IRLF 


hbfi 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


HISTORY 


OF   THE 


CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO. 


HERNANDO    CORTES, 

CONQUEROR    OF    MEXICO. 


HISTORY 


OF   THE 


CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO 


BY  WILLIAM    H.    PRESCOTT 


Victrices  aquilas  alium  laturus  in  orbem." 

LUCAN,  Pharsalia,  lib.  v.,  v.  238. 


EDITED  BY  JOHN  FOSTER  KIRK 


VOLUME  I. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
J.   B.    LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY. 


Copyright,  1843, 
BY  WILLIAM   H.  PRESCOTT. 

Copyright,  1871, 
BY  WILLIAM  G.  PRKSCOTT. 

Copyright,  1873, 
BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  CO. 


Mexico— Vol.  I. 


PREFACE. 


As  the  Conquest  of  Mexico  has  occupied  the  pens 
of  Solis  and  of  Robertson,  two  of  the  ablest  historians 
of  their  respective  nations,  it  might  seem  that  little 
could  remain  at  the  present  day  to  be  gleaned  by  the 
historical  inquirer.  But  Robertson's  narrative  is  neces 
sarily  brief,  forming  only  part  of  a  more  extended 
work ;  and  neither  the  British  nor  the  Castilian  author 
was  provided  with  the  important  materials  for  relating 
this  event  which  have  been  since  assembled  by  the  in 
dustry  of  Spanish  'scholars.  The  scholar  who  led  the 
way  in  these  researches  was  Don  Juan  Baptista  Mufioz, 
the  celebrated  historiographer  of  the  Indies,  who,  by 
a  royal  edict,  was  allowed  free  access  to  the  national 
archives,  and  to  all  libraries,  public,  private,  and  mo 
nastic,  in  the  kingdom  and  its  colonies.  The  result  of 
his  long  labors  was  a  vast  body  of  materials,  of  which 
unhappily  he  did  not  live  to  reap  the  benefit  himself. 
His  manuscripts  were  deposited,  after  his  death,  in  the 
archives  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  History  at  Madrid  ; 
and  that  collection  was  subsequently  augmented  by  the 
manuscripts  of  Don  Vargas  Ponce,  President  of  the 
Academy,  obtained,  like  those  of  Mufioz,  from  different 
quarters,  but  especially  from  the  archives  of  the  Indies 
at  Seville. 

A*  (v) 


vi  PREFACE. 

On  my  application  to  the  Academy,  in  1838,  for 
permission  to  copy  that  part  of  this  inestimable  collec 
tion  relating  to  Mexico  and  Peru,  it  was  freely  acceded 
to,  and  an  eminent  German  scholar,  one  of  their  own 
number,  was  appointed  to  superintend  the  collation 
and  transcription  of  the  manuscripts ;  and  this,  it  may 
be  added,  before  I  had  any  claim  on  the  courtesy  of 
that  respectable  body,  as  one  of  its  associates.  This 
conduct  shows  the  advance  of  a  liberal  spirit  in  the 
Peninsula  since  the  time  of  Dr.  Robertson,  who  com 
plains  that  he  was  denied  admission  to  the  most  im 
portant  public  repositories.  The  favor  writh  which  my 
own  application  was  regarded,  however,  must  chiefly 
be  attributed  to  the  kind  offices  of  the  venerable  Pres 
ident  of  the  Academy,  Don  Martin  Fernandez  de 
Navarrete ;  a  scholar  whose  personal  character  has 
secured  to  him  the  same  high  consideration  at  home 
which  his  literary  labors  have  obtained  abroad.  To 
this  eminent  person  I  am  under  still  further  obligations, 
for  the  free  use  which  he  has  allowed  me  to  make  of 
his  own  manuscripts, — the  fruits  of  a  life  of  accumula 
tion,  and  the  basis  of  those  valuable  publications  with 
which  he  has  at  different  times  illustrated  the  Spanish 
colonial  history. 

From  these  three  magnificent  collections,  the  result 
of  half  a  century's  careful  researches,  I  have  obtained 
a  mass  of  unpublished  documents,  relating  to  the  Con 
quest  and  Settlement  of  Mexico  and  of  Peru,  corn- 
prising  altogether  about  eight  thousand  folio  pages. 
They  consist  of  instructions  of  the  Court,  military  and 
private  journals,  correspondence  of  the  great  actors  in 
the  scenes,  legal  instruments,  contemporary  chronicles, 


PREFACE.  vii 

and  the  like,  drawn  from  all  the  principal  places  in  the 
extensive  colonial  empire  of  Spain,  as  well  as  from  the 
public  archives  in  the  Peninsula. 

I  have  still  further  fortified  the  collection  by  glean 
ing  such  materials  from  Mexico  itself  as  had  been 
overlooked  by  my  illustrious  predecessors  in  these  re 
searches.  For  these  I  am  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of 
Count  Cortina,  and,  yet  more,  to  that  of  Don  Lucas 
Alaman,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  Mexico;  but, 
above  all,  to  my  excellent  friend,  Don  Angel  Cal- 
deron  de  la  Barca,  late  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to 
that  country  from  the  court  of  Madrid, — a  gentleman 
whose  high  and  estimable  qualities,  even  more  than 
his  station,  secured  him  the  public  confidence,  and 
gained  him  free  access  to  every  place  of  interest  and 
importance  in  Mexico. 

I  have  also  to  acknowledge  the  very  kind  offices 
rendered  to  me  by -the  Count  Camaldoli  at  Naples ;  by 
the  Duke  of  Serradifalco  in  Sicily,  a  nobleman  whose 
science  gives  additional  lustre  to  his  rank ;  and  by  the 
Duke  of  Monteleone,  the  present  representative  of 
Corte~s,  who  has  courteously  opened  the  archives  of 
his  family  to  my  inspection.  To  these  names  must 
also  be  added  that  of  Sir  Thomas  Phillips,  Bart.,  whose 
precious  collection  of  manuscripts  probably  surpasses  in 
extent  that  of  any  private  gentleman  in  Great  Britain, 
if  not  m  Europe;  that  of  M.  Ternaux-Compans, 
the  proprietor  of  the  valuable  literary  collection  of 
Don  Antonio  Uguina,  including  the  papers  of  Munoz, 
the  fruits  of  which  he  is  giving  to  the  world  in  his 
excellent  translations;  and,  lastly,  that  of  my  friend 
and  countryman,  Arthur  Middleton,  Esq.,  late  Charge"- 


Viii  PREFACE. 

d' Affaires  from  the  United  States  at  the  court  of  Madrid, 
for  the  efficient  aid  he  has  afforded  me  in  prosecuting 
my  inquiries  in  that  capital. 

In  addition  to  this  stock  of  original  documents  ob 
tained  through  these  various  sources,  I  have  diligently 
provided  myself  with  such  printed  works  as  have  refer 
ence  to  the  subject,  including  the  magnificent  publica 
tions,  which  have  appeared  both  in  France  and  England, 
on  the  Antiquities  of  Mexico,  which,  from  their  cost 
and  colossal  dimensions,  would  seem  better  suited  to  a 
public  than  to  a  private  library. 

Having  thus  stated  the  nature  of  my  materials,  and 
the  sources  whence  they  are  derived,  it  remains  for  me 
to  add  a  few  observations  on  the  general  plan  and  com 
position  of  the  work.  Among  the  remarkable  achieve 
ments  of  the  Spaniards  in  the  sixteenth  century,  there 
is  no  one  more  striking  to  the  imagination  than  the 
conquest  of  Mexico.  The  subversion  of  a  great  em 
pire  by  a  handful  of  adventurers,  taken  with  all  its 
strange  and  picturesque  accompaniments,  has  the  air 
of  romance  rather  than  of  sober  history;  and  it  is  not 
easy  to  treat  such  a  theme  according  to  the  severe  rules 
prescribed  by  historical  criticism.  But,  notwithstand 
ing  the  seductions  of  the  subject,  I  have  conscientiously 
endeavored  to  distinguish  fact  from  fiction,  and  to  es 
tablish  the  narrative  on  as  broad  a  basis  as  possible  of 
contemporary  evidence ;  and  I  have  taken  occasion  to 
corroborate  the  text  by  ample  citations  from  authori 
ties,  usually  in  the  original,  since  few  of  them  can  be 
very  accessible  to  the  reader.  In  these  extracts  I  have 
scrupulously  conformed  to  the  ancient  orthography, 
however  obsolete  and  even  barbarous,  rather  than 


PREFACE.  ix 

impair   in   any  degree   the   integrity  of  the   original 
document. 

Although  the  subject  of  the  work  is,  properly,  only 
the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  I  have  prepared  the  way  for 
it  by  such  a  view  of  the  civilization  of  the  ancient 
Mexicans  as  might  acquaint  the  reader  with  the  char 
acter  of  this  extraordinary  race,  and  enable  him  to 
understand  the  difficulties  which  the  Spaniards  had  to 
encounter  in  their  subjugation.  This  Introductory  part 
of  the  work,  with  the  essay  in  the  Appendix  which 
properly  belongs  to  the  Introduction,  although  both 
together  making  only  half  a  volume,  has  cost  me  as 
much  labor,  and  nearly  as  much  time,  as  the  remainder 
of  the  history.  If  I  shall  have  succeeded  in  giving  the 
reader  a  just  idea  of  the  true  nature  and  extent  of  the 
civilization  to  which  the  Mexicans  had  attained,  it  will 
not  be  labor  lost. 

The  story  of  the  Conquest  terminates  with  the  fall 
of  the  capital.  Yet  I  have  preferred  to  continue  the 
narrative  to  the  death  of  Cortes,  relying  on  the  interest 
which  the  development  of  his  character  in  his  military 
career  may  have  excited  in  the  reader.  I  am  not  in 
sensible  to  the  hazard  I  incur  by  such  a  course.  The 
mind,  previously  occupied  with  one  great  idea,  that  of 
the  subversion  of  the  capital,  may  feel  the  prolonga 
tion  of  the  story  beyond  that  point  superfluous,  if  not 
tedious,  and  may  find  it  difficult,  after  the  excitement 
caused  by  witnessing  a  great  national  catastrophe,  to 
take  an  interest  in  the  adventures  of  a  private  individ 
ual.  Soils  took  the  more  politic  course  of  concluding 
his  narrative  with  the  fall  of  Mexico,  and  thus  leaves 
his  readers  with  the  full  impression  of  that  memorable 
i* 


X  PREFACE. 

event,  undisturbed,  on  their  minds.  To  prolong  the 
narrative  is  to  expose  the  historian  to  the  error  so  much 
censured  by  the  French  critics  in  some  of  their  most 
celebrated  dramas,  where  the  author  by  a  premature 
denouement\&&  impaired  the  interest  of  his  piece.  It  is 
the  defect  that  necessarily  attaches,  though  in  a  greater 
degree,  to  the  history  of  Columbus,  in  which  petty 
adventures  among  a  group  of  islands  make  up  the 
sequel  of  a  life  that  opened  with  the  magnificent  dis 
covery  of  a  World, — a  defect,  in  short,  which  it  has 
required  all  the  genius  of  Irving  and  the  magical  charm 
of  his  style  perfectly  to  overcome. 

Notwithstanding  these  objections,  I  have  been  in 
duced  to  continue  the  narrative,  partly  from  deference 
to  the  opinion  of  several  Spanish  scholars,  who  con 
sidered  that  the  biography  of  Cortes  had  not  been 
fully  exhibited,  and  partly  from  the  circumstance  of 
my  having  such  a  body  of  original  materials  for  this 
biography  at  my  command.  And  I  cannot  regret  that 
I  have  adopted  this  course;  since,  whatever  lustre 
the  Conquest  may  reflect  on  Cortes  as  a  military 
achievement,  it  gives  but  an  imperfect  idea  of  his  en 
lightened  spirit  and  of  his  comprehensive  and  versatile 
genius. 

To  the  eye  of  the  critic  there  may  seem  some  in 
congruity  in  a  plan  which  combines  objects  so  dissimilar 
as  those  embraced  by  the  present  history,  where  the 
Introduction,  occupied  by  the  antiquities  and  origin 
of  a  nation,  has  somewhat  the  character  of  &  philosophic 
theme,  while  the  conclusion  is  strictly  biographical,  and 
the  two  may  be  supposed  to  match  indifferently  with 
the  main  body,  or  historical  portion  of  the  work.  But 


PREFACE.  Xl 

I  may  hope  that  such  objections  will  be  found  to  have 
less  weight  in  practice  than  in  theory  •  and,  if  properly 
managed,  that  the  general  views  of  the  Introduction 
will  prepare  the  reader  for  the  particulars  of  the  Con 
quest,  and  that  the  great  public  events  narrated  in  this 
will,  without  violence,  open  the  way  to  the  remaining 
personal  history  of  the  hero  who  is  the  soul  of  it. 
Whatever  incongruity  may  exist  in  other  respects,  I 
may  hope  that  the  unity  of  interest,  the  only  unity  held 
of  much  importance  by  modern  critics,  will  be  found 
still  to  be  preserved. 

The  distance  of  the  present  age  from  the  period  of 
the  narrative  might  be  presumed  to  secure  the  historian 
from  undue  prejudice  or  partiality.  Yet  by  the  Ameri 
can  and  the  English  reader,  acknowledging  so  different 
a  moral  standard  from  that  of  the  sixteenth  century,  I 
may  possibly  be  thought  too  indulgent  to  the  errors  of 
the  Conquerors ;  while  by  a  Spaniard,  accustomed  to 
the  undiluted  panegyric  of  Solis,  1  may  be  deemed  to 
have  dealt  too  hardly  with  them.  To  such  I  can  only 
say  that,  while,  on  the  one  hand,  I  have  not  hesitated 
to  expose  in  their  strongest  colors  the  excesses  of  the 
Conquerors,  on  the  other,  I  have  given  them  the  benefit 
of  such  mitigating  reflections  as  might  be  suggested  by 
the  circumstances  and  the  period  in  which  they  lived. 
I  have  endeavored  not  only  to  present  a  picture  true  in 
itself,  but  to  place  it  in  its  proper  light,  and  to  put  the 
spectator  in  a  proper  point  of  view  for  seeing  i.t  to  the 
best  advantage.  I  have  endeavored,  at  the  expense  of 
some  repetition,  to  surround  him  with  the  spirit  of  the 
times,  and,  in  a  word,  to  make  him,  if  I  may  so  ex 
press  myself,  a  contemporary  of  the  sixteenth,  century. 


Xii  PREFACE. 

Whether,  and  how  far,  I  have  succeeded  in  this,  he 
must  determine. 

For  one  thing,  before  I  conclude,  I  may  reasonably 
ask  the  reader's  indulgence.  Owing  to  the  state  of  my 
eyes,  I  have  been  obliged  to  use  a  writing-case  made  for 
the  blind,  which  does  not  permit  the  writer  to  see  his 
own  manuscript.  Nor  have  I  ever  corrected,  or  even 
read,  my  own  original  draft.  As  the  chirography, 
under  these  disadvantages,  has  been  too  often  careless 
and  obscure,  occasional  errors,  even  with  the  utmost  care 
of  my  secretary,  must  have  necessarily  occurred  in  the 
transcription,  somewhat  increased  by  the  barbarous 
phraseology  imported  from  my  Mexican  authorities. 
I  cannot  expect  that  these  errors  have  always  been 
detected  even  by  the  vigilant  eye  of  the  perspicacious 
critic  to  whom  the  proof-sheets  have  been  subjected. 

In  the  Preface  to  the  "History  of  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella,"  I  lamented  that,  while  occupied  with  that 
subject,  two  of  its  most  attractive  parts  had  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  most  popular  of  American  authors, 
Washington  Irving.  By  a  singular  chance,  something 
like  the  reverse  of  this  has  taken  place  in.  the  compo 
sition  of  the  present  history,  and  I  have  found  myself 
unconsciously  taking  up  ground  which  he  was  preparing 
to  occupy.  It  was  not  till  I  had  become  master  of  my 
rich  collection  of  materials  that  I  was  acquainted  with 
this  circumstance ;  and,  had  he  persevered  in  his  de 
sign,  I  should  unhesitatingly  have  abandoned  my  own, 
if  not  from  courtesy,  at  least  from  policy  ;  for,  though 
armed  v?ith  the  weapons  of  Achilles,  this  could  give 
me  no  hope  of  success  in  a  competition  with  Achilles 
himself.  But  no  sooner  was  that  distinguished  writer 


PREFACE.  xiii 

informed  of  the  preparations  I  had  made,  than,  with 
the  gentlemanly  spirit  which  will  surprise  no  one  who 
has  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaintance,  he  instantly 
announced  to  me  his  intention  of  leaving  the  subject 
open  to  me.  While  I  do  but  justice  to  Mr.  Irving  by 
this  statement,  I  feel  the  prejudice  it  does  to  myself  in 
the  unavailing  regret  I  am  exciting  in  the  bosom  of 
the  reader. 

I  must  not  conclude  this  Preface,  too  long  protracted 
as  it  is  already,  without  a  word  of  acknowledgment 
to  my  friend  George  Ticknor,  Esq.,  the  friend  of 
many  years, — for  his  patient  revision  of  my  manu 
script  ;  a  labor  of  love,  the  worth  of  which  those  only 
can  estimate  who  are  acquainted  with  his  extraordinary 
erudition  and  his  nice  critical  taste.  If  I  have  reserved 
his  name  for  the  last  in  the  list  of  those  to  whose  good 
offices  I  am  indebted,  it  is  most  assuredly  not  because 
I  value  his  services  least. 

WILLIAM    H.  PRESCOTT. 
BOSTON,  October  i,  1843. 

NOTE. — The  author's  emendations  of  this  history  include  many 
additional  notes,  which,  being  often  contradictory  to  the  text,  have 
been  printed  between  brackets.  They  were  chiefly  derived  from  the 
copious  annotations  of  Don  Jose  F.  Ramirez  and  Don  Lucas  Alaman 
to  the  two  Spanish  translations  published  in  Mexico.  There  could  be 
no  stronger  guarantee  of  the  value  and  general  accuracy  of  the  work 
than  the  minute  labor  bestowed  upon  it  by  these  distinguished 
scholars. — ED. 


VOL.  I. 


GENERAL   CONTENTS. 


BOOK    I. 

INTRODUCTION. — VIEW    OF   THE    AZTEC   CIVILIZATION. 

BOOK     II. 
DISCOVERY    OF    MEXICO. 

BOOK    III. 

MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

-    BOOK    IV. 

RESIDENCE    IN    MEXICO. 

BOOK    V. 

EXPULSION    FROM    MEXICO. 

BOOK    VI. 

SIEGE    AND    SURRENDER    OF    MEXICO. 

BOOK     VII. 
CONCLUSION. — SUBSEQUENT    CAREER    OF    CORTES. 

APPENDIX. 

(XV) 


CONTENTS    OF    VOL.   I. 

BOOK    I. 

INTRODUCTION.— VIEW    OF   THE   AZTEC   CIVILIZATION. 

CHAPTER    I. 

ANCIENT  MEXICO.— CLIMATE  AND  PRODUCTS.— PRIMITIVE 

RACES.— AZTEC  EMPIRE x 

Extent  of  the  Aztec  Territory        ....  2 

The  Hot  Region ^ 

Volcanic  Scenery ^ 

Cordillera  of  the  Andes 6 

Table-land  in  the  Days  of  the  Aztecs 7 

Valley  of  Mexico 8 

The  Toltecs 10 

Their  mysterious  Disappearance 14 

Races  from  the  Northwest 15 

Their  Hostilities I7 

Foundation  of  Mexico 19 

Domestic  Feuds 20 

League  of  the  kindred  Tribes 21 

Rapid  Rise  of  Mexico 22 

Prosperity  of  the  Empire 23 

Criticism  on  Veytia's  History 24 

CHAPTER   II. 

SUCCESSION  TO  THE  CROWN.— AZTEC  NOBILITY.— JUDICIAL 
SYSTEM.— LAWS  AND  REVENUES.— MILITARY  INSTITU 
TIONS  26 

Election  of  the  Sovereign 26 

His  Coronation 27 

Aztec  Nobles 28 

B*  2  ( xvii ) 


xviii  CONTENTS. 

*AGB 

Their  barbaric  Pomp 26 

Tenure  of  their  Estates 29 

Legislative  Power 31 

Judicial  System 32 

Independent  Judges 34 

Their  Mode  of  Procedure     .......  35 

Showy  Tribunal 36 

Hieroglyphical  Paintings 37 

Marriage  Rites 38 

Slavery  in  Mexico 38 

Royal  Revenues 40 

Burdensome  Imposts 42 

Public  Couriers ...  43 

Military  Enthusiasm 45 

Aztec  Ambassadors 45 

Orders  of  Knighthood  ........  46 

Gorgeous  Armor         .........  47 

National  Standard          ........  47 

Military  Code  .          .........  49 

Hospitals  for  the  Wounded 49 

Influence  of  Conquest  on  a  Nation 51 

Criticism  on  Torquemada's  History      .....  52 

Abbe  Clavigero 53 


CHAPTER    III. 

MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY.— THE  SACERDOTAL  ORDER.— THE 
TEMPLES.— HUMAN  SACRIFICES        .       .  .       ,55 

Systems  of  Mythology 55 

Mythology  of  the  Aztecs 57 

Ideas  of  a  God 58 

Sanguinary  War-god 59 

God  of  the  Air 60 

Mystic  Legends 61 

Division  of  Time 64 

Future  State 65 

Funeral  Ceremonies 66 

Baptismal  Rites 67 

Monastic  Orders 70 


CONTENTS.  xix 

PACK 

Feasts  and  Flagellation 7I 

Aztec  Confessional         ••••••..  71 

Education  of  the  Youth 72 

Revenue  of  the  Priests y^ 

Mexican  Temples j^ 

Religious  Festivals 75 

Human  Sacrifices       .........  77 

The  Captive's  Doom      ........  78 

Ceremonies  of  Sacrifice     ........  79 

Torturing  of  the  Victim         .......  80 

Sacrifice  of  Infants     .........  81 

Cannibal  Banquets         ........  81 

Number  of  Victims 82 

Houses  of  Skulls 83 

Cannibalism  of  the  Aztecs 87 

Criticism  on  Sahagun's  History 89 


CHAPTER    IV. 

MEXICAN  HIEROGLYPHICS.— MANUSCRIPTS.— ARITHMETIC. 

—CHRONOLOGY.— ASTRONOMY 93 

Dawning  of  Science     ........  93 

Picture-writing          .........  94 

Aztec  Hieroglyphics     ........  96 

Manuscripts  of  the  Mexicans  .......  97 

Emblematic  Symbols  ........  98 

Phonetic  Signs          .........  99 

Materials  of  the  Aztec  Manuscripts 102 

Form  of  their  Volumes 103 

Destruction  of  most  of  them 104 

Remaining  Manuscripts 105 

Difficulty  of  deciphering  them 108 

Minstrelsy  of  the  Aztecs in 

Theatrical  Entertainments 112 

System  of  Notation 112 

Their  Chronology         .         .         .         .         .         •         •         .  113 

The  Aztec  Era 117 

Calendar  of  the  Priests                                           ...  120 


XX  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Science  of  Astrology 123 

Astrology  of  the  Aztecs 124 

Their  Astronomy ,  125 

Wonderful  Attainments  in  this  Science       ....  126 

Remarkable  Festival         ........  128 

Carnival  of  the  Aztecs          .......  130 

Lord  Kingsborough's  Work    .......  131 

Criticism  on  Gama       ........  132 


CHAPTER    V. 

AZTEC  AGRICULTURE. — MECHANICAL  ARTS. — MERCHANTS. 

— DOMESTIC  MANNERS 134 

Mechanical  Genius 134 

Agriculture       ..........  136 

Mexican  Husbandry    ........  136 

Vegetable  Products          ........  138 

Mineral  Treasures        ........  141 

Skill  of  the  Aztec  Jewellers     .......  143 

Sculpture      ..........  144 

Huge  Calendar-stone      ........  145 

Aztec  Dyes  ..........  146 

Beautiful  Feather-work   ........  147 

Fairs  of  Mexico  .........  148 

National  Currency  .........  148 

Trades          ..........  149 

Aztec  Merchants      .........  149 

Militant  Traders  .........  150 

Domestic  Life  ..........  152 

Kindness  to  Children 153 

Polygamy 154 

Condition  of  the  Sex 154 

Social  Entertainments ,         .         .  154 

Use  of  Tobacco 155 

Culinary  Art    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  IS7 

Agreeable  Drinks         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  158 

Dancing 158 

Intoxication          .         .        .        .         .        .        .        .         .  icg 

Criticism  on  Boturini's  Work  .  160 


CONTENTS.  xxi 
CHAPTER    VI. 

PAGB 

TEZCUCANS.  —  THEIR      GOLDEN     AGE. —  ACCOMPLISHED 

PRINCES.— DECLINE  OF  THEIR  MONARCHY  .       .       .163 

The  Acolhuans  or  Tezcucans       ......  163 

Prince  Nezahualcoyotl     ........  164 

His  Persecution 165 

His  Hair-breadth  Escapes 166 

His  wandering  Life 167 

Fidelity  of  his  Subjects 168 

Triumphs  over  his  Enemies         ......  169 

Remarkable  League         ........  169 

General  Amnesty          ........  170 

The  Tezcucan  Code         ........  170 

Departments  of  Government 171 

Council  of  Music 172 

Its  Censorial  Office 172 

Literary  Taste 173 

Tezcucan  Bards 174 

Royal  Ode 175 

Resources  of  Nezahualcoyotl      ......  177 

His  magnificent  Palace    ........  178 

His  Gardens  and  Villas 179 

Address  of  the  Priest 182 

His  Baths 184 

Luxurious  Residence 185 

Existing  Remains  of  it 185 

Royal  Amours          .........  186 

Marriage  of  the  King 188 

Forest  Laws     ......«•••  189 

Strolling  Adventures 19° 

Munificence  of  the  Monarch 192 

His  Religion 192 

Temple  to  the  Unknown  God 193 

Philosophic  Retirement *94 

His  plaintive  Verses J95 

Last  Hours  of  Nezahualcoyotl 197 

His  Character *99 

Succeeded  by  Nezahualpilli 200 


xxll  CONTENTS, 

PAGE 

The  Lady  of  Tula 201 

Executes  his  Son 202 

Effeminacy  of  the  King 202 

His  consequent  Misfortunes        ....«•  203 

Death  of  Nezahualpilli    ....•••.  203 

Tezcucan  Civilization  ........  204 

Criticism  on  Ixtlilxochitl's  Writings                 .        .        .        c  206 


BOOK    II. 

DISCOVERY  OF   MEXICO. 

CHAPTER    I. 

SPAIN  UNDER  CHARLES  V. — PROGRESS  OF  DISCOVERY. — CO 
LONIAL  POLICY. — CONQUEST  OF  CUBA. — EXPEDITIONS 

TO  YUCATAN 211 

Condition  of  Spain ,  211 

Increase  of  Empire 212 

Cardinal  Ximenes        ........  212 

Arrival  of  Charles  the  Fifth 212 

Swarm  of  Flemings 213 

Opposition  of  the  Cortes •  .  214 

Colonial  Administration 215 

Spirit  of  Chivalry      .  .......  216 

Progress  of  Discovery 217 

Advancement  of  Colonization 218 

System  of  Rcpartimientos 218 

Colonial  Policy 219 

Discovery  of  Cuba 220 

Its  Conquest  by  Velasquez 22T 

Cordova's  Expedition  to  Yucatan 222 

His  Reception  by  the  Natives 223 

Grijalva's  Expedition 224 

Civilization  in  Yucatan 225 


CONTENTS.  xxiii 

PACK 

Traffic  with  the  Indians 226 

His  Return  to  Cuba 227 

His  cool  Reception      ........  227 

Ambitious  Schemes  of  the  Governor      .....  228 

Preparations  for  an  Expedition  .....  229 


CHAPTER    II. 

HERNANDO  CORTES. — His  EARLY  LIFE. — VISITS  THE  NEW 
WORLD.  —  His   RESIDENCE   IN   CUBA.  —  DIFFICULTIES 

WITH  VELASQUEZ. — ARMADA  INTRUSTED  TO  CORTES  .  230 

Hernando  Cortes         ........  230 

His  Education          .........  231 

Choice  of  a  Profession         .......  232 

Departure  for  America     ........  233 

Arrival  at  Hispaniola 234 

His  Mode  of  Life 235 

Enlists  under  Velasquez 236 

Habits  of  Gallantry 237 

Disaffected  towards  Velasquez 237 

Cortes  in  Confinement     ...        0        ....  238 

Flies  into  a  Sanctuary  ........  239 

Again  put  in  Irons  .........  240 

His  perilous  Escape     ........  240 

His  Marriage  ..........  240 

Reconciled  with  the  Governor 241 

Retires  to  his  Plantation 242 

Armada  intrusted  to  Cortes 244 

Preparations  for  the  Voyage 245 

Instructions  to  Cortes .                          247 


CHAPTER    III. 

JEALOUSY  OF  VELASQUEZ.— CORTES  EMBARKS.— EQUIPMENT 
OF  HIS  FLEET. — His  PERSONA  AND  CHARACTER. — REN 
DEZVOUS  AT  HAVANA.— STRENGTH  OF  HIS  ARMAMENT  .  250 

Jealousy  of  Velasquez 250 

Intrigues  against  Cortes 251 


Xxiv  CONTENTS. 

PACK 

His  clandestine  Embarkation 252 

Arrives  at  Macaca 253 

Accession  of  Volunteers      .......  254 

Stores  and  Ammunition  ........  255 

Orders  from  Velasquez  to  arrest  Cortes       ....  255 

He  raises  the  Standard  at  Havana 256 

Person  of  Cortes          ........  257 

His  Character 258 

Strength  of  the  Armament 259 

Stirring  Address  to  his  Troops 261 

Fleet  weighs  Anchor 262 

Remarks  on  Estrella's  Manuscript 262 


CHAPTER    IV. 

VOYAGE  TO  COZUMEL. — CONVERSION  OF  THE  NATIVES. — 
JERONIMO  DE  AGUILAR. — ARMY  ARRIVES  AT  TABASCO, 
—GREAT  BATTLE  WITH  THE  INDIANS.— CHRISTIANITY 

INTRODUCED 264 

Disastrous  Voyage  to  Cozumel   ......  264 

Humane  Policy  of  Cortes        .......  265 

Cross  found  in  the  Island    .......  266 

Religious  Zeal  of  the  Spaniards      ......  267 

Attempts  at  Conversion       .......  269 

Overthrow  of  the  Idols    .        .         .        .        .        .        .        .  269 

Jeronimo  de  Aguilar    ........  271 

His  Adventures       .         .         .        .        .        .        .  '      .         .  271 

Employed  as  an  Interpreter        .=,....  273 

Fleet  arrives  at  Tabasco 274 

Hostile  Reception 274 

Fierce  Defiance  of  the  Natives 275 

Desperate  Conflict       ........  276 

Effect  of  the  Fire-arms 277 

Cortes  takes  Tabasco  ........  277 

Ambush  of  the  Indians    ........  278 

The  Country  in  Arms  ........  279 

Preparations  for  Battle    ........  280 

March  on  the  Enemy  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  281 

Joins  Battle  with  the  Indians 282 


CONTENTS.  xxv 

PAGE 

Doubtful  Struggle 283 

Terror  at  the  War-horse 283 

Victory  of  the  Spaniards 284 

Number  of  Slain 285 

Treaty  with  the  Natives 286 

Conversion  of  the  Heathen 287 

Catholic  Communion  ........  288 

Spaniards  embark  for  Mexico          ......  289 


CHAPTER    V. 

VOYAGE  ALONG  THE  COAST. — DONA  MARINA. — SPANIARDS 

LAND  IN  MEXICO. — INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  AZTECS    .  290 

Voyage  along  the  Coast 290 

Natives  come  on  Board 291 

Dona  Marina       .........  292 

Her  History     ..........  292 

Her  Beauty  and  Character  .......  293 

First  Tidings  of  Montezuma  .......  295 

Spaniards  land  in  Mexico    .......  295 

First  Interview  with  the  Aztecs        ......  297 

Their  magnificent  Presents 299 

Cupidity  of  the  Spaniards 299 

Cortes  displays  his  Cavalry 300 

Aztec  Paintings 301 

CHAPTER    VI. 

ACCOUNT    OF    MONTEZUMA.  —  STATE   OF   HIS    EMPIRE. — 
STRANGE  PROGNOSTICS.— .EMBASSY  AND  PRESENTS.— 

SPANISH  ENCAMPMENT 302 

Montezuma  then  upon  the  Throne 302 

Inaugural  Address 3°3 

The  Wars  of  Montezuma 3°4 

His  civil  Policy 3°4 

Oppression  of  his  Subjects 306 

Foes  of  his  Empire  .....«••  3°^ 

Superstition  of  Montezuma 3°8 

VOL.  I.— 2  c 


Xxv!  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Mysterious  Prophecy       .....».,  308 

Portentous  Omens       ........  309 

Dismay  of  the  Emperor  .         .         .         .         .        .        .        .  311 

Embassy  and  Presents  to  the  Spaniards      ;         .        .        .  312 

Life  in  the  Spanish  Camp        .......  313 

Rich  Present  from  Montezuma   ......  314 

Large  gold  Wheels .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  -.^15 

Message  from  Montezuma  .......  317 

Effects  of  the  Treasure  on  the  Spaniards        .        .        .        .318 

Return  of  the  Aztec  Envoys        ......  319 

Prohibition  of  Montezuma       .......  320 

Preaching  of  Father  Olmedo       ......  320 

Desertion  of  the  Natives 321 


CHAPTER    VII. 

TROUBLES  IN  THE  CAMP. — PLAN  OF  A  COLONY. — MANAGE 
MENT  OF  CORTES. — MARCH  TO  CEMPOALLA. — PRO 
CEEDINGS  WITH  THE  NATIVES. — FOUNDATION  OF  VERA 

CRUZ 322 

Discontent  of  the  Soldiery  .....,,        322 

Envoys  from  the  Totonacs ,    323 

Dissensions  in  the  Aztec  Empire 324 

Proceedings  in  the  Camp 324 

Cortes  prepares  to  return  to  Cuba 325 

Army  remonstrate 326 

Cortes  yields 326 

Foundation  of  Villa  Rica 327 

Resignation  and  Reappointment  of  Cortes         .        ,        .        328 
Divisions  in  the  Camp     •••••••.    329 

General  Reconciliation         .......        330 

March  to  Cempoalla        ........    332 

Picturesque  Scenery    ........        332 

Remains  of  Victims          ••••••••    333 

Terrestrial  Paradise     ........         334 

Love  of  Flowers  by  the  Natives      .        .        .        ,         ,        •    33"5 

Their  splendid  Edifices .33$ 

Hospitable  Entertainment  at  Cempoalla          ....    337 
Conference  with  the  Cacique 338 


CONTENTS.  xxvii 

PAGB 

Proposals  of  Alliance 339 

Advance  of  the  Spaniards  .......  341 

Arrival  of  Aztec  Nobles  ........  341 

Artful  Policy  of  Cortes        .......  342 

Allegiance  of  the  Natives 344 

City  of  Villa  Rica  built 344 

Infatuation  of  the  Indians       .......  345 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

ANOTHER  AZTEC  EMBASSY. — DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  IDOLS. — 
DESPATCHES    SENT   TO  SPAIN. — CONSPIRACY  IN  THE 

CAMP. — THE  FLEET  SUNK 347 

Embassy  from  Montezuma 347 

Its  Results 348 

Severe  Discipline  in  the  Army     ......  349 

Gratitude  of  the  Cempoallan  Cacique 350 

Attempt  at  Conversion 350 

Sensation  among  the  Natives 351 

The  Idols  burned 352 

Consecration  of  the  Sanctuary        ......  353 

News  from  Cuba          ........  354 

Presents  for  Charles  the  Fifth          ......  355 

First  Letter  of  Cortes 357 

Despatches  to  Spain 359 

Agents  for  the  Mission 360 

Departure  of  the  Ship 362 

It  touches  at  Cuba 3^2 

Rage  of  Velasquez 3^2 

Ship  arrives  in  Spain   .....*••  3^3 

Conspiracy  in  the  Camp          , 363 

Destruction  of  the  Fleet 3^5 

Oration  of  Cortes 367 

Enthusiasm  of  the  Army    .......  3^8 

Notice  of  Las  Casas 37* 

His  Life  and  Character 37 1 

Criticism  on  his  Works 378 


xxviii  CONTENTS, 

BOOK   III. 

MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

CHAPTER   I. 

PAGB 

PROCEEDINGS  AT  CEMPOALLA. — THE  SPANIARDS  CLIMB  THE 
TABLE-LAND.  —  PICTURESQUE  SCENERY.  —  TRANSAC 
TIONS  WITH  THE  NATIVES.— EMBASSY  TO  TLASCALA  .  383 

Squadron  off  the  Coast 383 

Stratagem  of  Cortes .  385 

Arrangement  at  Villa  Rica ,  386 

Spaniards  begin  their  March 387 

Climb  the  Cordilleras 388 

Wild  Mountain  Scenery          ....,«»  391 

Immense  Heaps  of  human  Skulls 393 

Transactions  with  the  Natives 393 

Accounts  of  Montezuma's  Power 394 

Moderation  of  Father  Olmedo        ......  396 

Indian  Dwellings 398 

Cortes  determines  his  Route 399 

Embassy  to  Tlascala 400 

Remarkable  Fortification        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  401 

Arrival  in  Tlascala 402 

CHAPTER   II. 

REPUBLIC  OF  TLASCALA.— ITS  INSTITUTIONS.— EARLY  HIS 
TORY.— DISCUSSIONS  IN  THE  SENATE,— DESPERATE 

BATTLES 403 

The  Tlascalans   °0         ........        403 

Their  Migrations     .........    404 

Their  Government       ........         404 

Public  Games  ..........    406 

Order  of  Knighthood 406 

Internal  Resources                                                .         .  407 

Their  Civilization 407 


CONTENTS.  xxix 

PAGB 

Struggles  with  the  Aztecs 408 


Means  of  Defence 


409 


Sufferings  of  the  Tlascalans    .         .         .        .        .        .        .411 

Their  hardy  Character         .......  412 

Debates  in  the  Senate      ........  412 

Spaniards  advance 414 

Desperate  Onslaught 414 

Retreat  of  the  Indians 415 

Bivouac  of  the  Spaniards 416 

The  Army  resumes  its  March 417 

Immense  Host  of  Barbarians          ......  419 

Bloody  Conflict  in  the  Pass         ......  420 

Enemy  give  Ground         ........  421 

Spaniards  clear  the  Pass 422 

Cessation  of  Hostilities 422 

Results  of  the  Conflict 423 

Troops  encamp  for  the  Night 424 


CHAPTER  III. 

DECISIVE  VICTORY. — INDIAN  COUNCIL. — NIGHT  ATTACK. — 

NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  THE  ENEMY. — TLASCALAN  HERO  .  426 

Envoys  to  Tlascala 426 

Foraging  Party 427 

Bold  Defiance  by  the  Tlascalans 427 

Preparations  for  Battle    ........  429 

Appearance  of  the  Tlascalans     ......  430 

Showy  Costume  of  the  Warriors     ......  432 

Their  Weapons 433 

Desperate  Engagement 435 

The  Combat  thickens 436 

Divisions  among  the  Enemy 437 

Decisive  Victory  ........  437 

Triumph  of  Science  over  Numbers 439 

Dread  of  the  Cavalry 44° 

Indian  Council 44° 

Night  Attack 44* 

Spaniards  victorious 442 

Embassy  to  Tlascala 442 

C* 


xxx  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Peace  with  the  Enemy     ...•••••  443 

Patriotic  Spirit  of  their  Chief 444 

CHAPTER   IV. 

DISCONTENTS  IN  THE  ARMY.— TLASCALAN  SPIES.— PEACE 

WITH  THE  REPUBLIC.— EMBASSY  FROM  MONTEZUMA    .  446 

Spaniards  scour  the  Country 446 

Success  of  the  Foray ,  447 

Discontents  in  the  Camp 448 

Representations  of  the  Malecontents 449 

Reply  of  Cortes 450 

Difficulties  of  the  Enterprise 452 

Mutilation  of  the  Spies 453 

Interview  with  the  Tlascalan  Chief         .  455 

Peace  with  the  Republic 456 

Embassy  from  Montezuma 457 

Declines  to  receive  the  Spaniards 458 

They  advance  towards  the  City 460 

CHAPTER  V. 

SPANIARDS  ENTER  TLASCALA.— DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CAPI 
TAL.— ATTEMPTED  CONVERSION.— AZTEC  EMBASSY.— 

INVITED  TO  CHOLULA 461 

Spaniards  enter  Tlascala     .         .         .        .         .       • ,        .  461 

Rejoicings  on  their  Arrival 462 

Description  of  Tlascala 463 

Its  Houses  and  Streets    .......         .  464 

Its  Fairs  and  Police 464 

Divisions  of  the  City 465 

Wild  Scenery  round  Tlascala 465 

Character  of  the  Tlascalans 466 

Vigilance  of  Cortes 467 

Attempted  Conversion     ........  468 

Resistance  of  the  Natives    .......  468 

Zeal  of  Cortes 469 

Prudence  of  the  Friar          .......  469 


CONTENTS.  xxxi 

PACK 

Character  of  Olmedo 470 

Mass  celebrated  in  Tlascala 471 

The  Indian  Maidens 471 

Aztec  Embassy 472 

Power  of  Montezunv*      -  •        .        •  473 

Embassy  from  I  xtlilxochltl 474 

Deputies  from  Cholula    ......*.  475 

Invitation  to  Cholula  ........  476 

Prepare  to  leave  Tlascala 476 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


VOLUME   I. 

PAGE 

HERNANDO  CORTES Frontispiece. 

THE  LERMA  RIVER 

SACRIFICIAL  STONE,  COURT  OF  THE  NATIONAL  MUSEUM  .  79 

AZTEC  CALENDAR  STONE 125 

PRIMITIVE  AND  PRESENT  SPINNING  AND  WEAVING    .        .  146 

PRIMITIVE  FORTIFICATIONS,  RUINS  OF  CHICOMOSTOC    .  205 

LANDING-PLACE  OF  CORTES,  VERA  CRUZ     .  296 

AZTEC  IDOLS  CARVED  IN  STONE 352 


Mexico.— xxxiii. 


BOOK  FIRST. 

INTRODUCTION. 

PRELIMINARY  VIEW  OF   THE  AZTEC 
CIVILIZATION. 


CONQUEST  OF   MEXICO. 


BOOK  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 
VIEW   OF  THE  AZTEC   CIVILIZATION. 


CHAPTER    I. 

ANCIENT     MEXICO. CLIMATE     AND      PRODUCTS. — PRIMI 
TIVE    RACES. AZTEC    EMPIRE. 

OF  all  that  extensive  empire  which  once  acknowl 
edged  the  authority  of  Spain  in  the  New  World,  no 
portion,  for  interest  and  importance,  can  be  compared 
with  Mexico ; — and  this  equally,  whether  we  consider 
the  variety  of  its  soil  and  climate ;  the  inexhaustible 
stores  of  its  mineral  wealth ;  its  scenery,  grand  and 
picturesque  beyond  example ;  the  character  of  its 
ancient  inhabitants,  not  only  far  surpassing  in  intel 
ligence  that  of  the  other  North  American  races,  but 
reminding  us,  by  their  monuments,  of  the  primitive 
civilization  of  Egypt  and  Hindostan ;  or,  lastly,  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  its  Conquest,  adventurous 
and  romantic  as  any  legend  devised  by  Norman  or 
Italian  bard  of  chivalry.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the 
present  narrative  to  exhibit  the  history  of  this  Con- 
VOL.  I.— A  i 


2  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

quest,  and  that  of  the  remarkable  man  by  whom  it 
was  achieved. 

But,  in  order  that  the  reader  may  have  a  better 
understanding  of  the  subject,  it  will  be  well,  before 
entering  on  it,  to  take  a  general  survey  of  the  political 
and  social  institutions  of  the  races  who  occupied  the 
land  at  the  time  of  its  discovery. 

The  country  of  the  ancient  Mexicans,  or  Aztecs  as 
they  were  called,  formed  but  a  very  small  part  of 
the  extensive  territories  comprehended  in  the  modern 
republic  of  Mexico.1  Its  boundaries  cannot  be  defined 
with  certainty.  They  were  much  enlarged  in  the  latter 
days  of  the  empire,  when  they  may  be  considered  as 
reaching  from  about  the  eighteenth  degree  north,  to 
the  twenty-first,  on  the  Atlantic  ;  and  from  the  four 
teenth  to  the  nineteenth,  including  a  very  narrow 
strip,  on  the  Pacific.3  In  its  greatest  breadth,  it  could 

1  Extensive  indeed,  if  we  may  trust  Archbishop  Lorenzana,  who 
tells  us,  "  It  is  doubtful  if  the  country  of  New  Spain  does  not  border 
on  Tartary  and  Greenland  ; — by  the  way  of  California,  on  the  former, 
and  by  New  Mexico,  on  the  latter"  !  Historia  de  Nueva-Espana 
(Mexico,  1770),  p.  38,  nota. 

3  I  have  conformed  to  the  limits  fixed  by  Clavigero.  '  He  has,  prob 
ably,  examined  the  subject  with  more  thoroughness  and  fidelity  than 
most  of  his  countrymen,  who  differ  from  him,  and  who  assign  a  more 
liberal  extent  to  the  monarchy.  (See  his  Storia  antica  del  Messico 
(Cesena,  1780),  dissert.  7.)  The  abbe,  however,  has  not  informed  his 
readers  on  what  frail  foundations  his  conclusions  rest.  The  extent  of 
the  Aztec  empire  is  to  be  gathered  from  the  writings  of  historians 
since  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  and  from  the  picture-rolls  of  tribute 
paid  by  the  conquered  cities ;  both  sources  extremely  vague  and 
defective.  See  the  MSS.  of  the  Mendoza  collection,  in  Lord  Kings- 
borough's  magnificent  publication  (Antiquities  of  Mexico,  comprising 
Facsimiles  of  Ancient  Paintings  and  Hieroglyphics,  together  with  the 
Monuments  of  New  Spain.  London,  1830).  The  difficulty  of  the 


ANCIENT  MEXICO.  3 

not  exceed  five  degrees  and  a  half,  dwindling,  as  it 
approached  its  southeastern  limits,  to  less  than  two. 
It  covered,  probably,  less  than  sixteen  thousand  square 
leagues.3  Yet  such  is  the  remarkable  formation  of  this 
country,  that,  though  not  more  than  twice  as  large  as 
New  England,  it  presented  every  variety  of  climate, 
and  was  capable  of  yielding  nearly  every  fruit,  found 
between  the  equator  and  the  Arctic  circle. 

All  along  the  Atlantic,  the  country  is  bordered  by  a 
broad  tract,  called  the  tierra  caliente,  or  hot  region, 
which  has  the  usual  high  temperature  of  equinoctial 
lands.  Parched  and  sandy  plains  are  intermingled 
with  others,  of  exuberant  fertility,  almost  impervious 
from  thickets  of  aromatic  shrubs  and  wild  flowers,  in 
the  midst  of  which  tower  up  trees  of  that  magnificent 

inquiry  is  much  increased  by  the  fact  of  the  conquests  having  been 
made,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter,  by  the  united  arms  of  three  powers, 
so  that  it  is  not  always  easy  to  tell  to  which  party  they  eventually 
belonged.  The  affair  is  involved  in  so  much  uncertainty  that  Clavi- 
gero,  notwithstanding  the  positive  assertions  in  his  text,  has  not  ven 
tured,  in  his  map,  to  define  the  precise  limits  of  the  empire,  either 
towards  the  north,  where  it  mingles  with  the  Tezcucan  empire,  or 
towards  the  south,  where,  indeed,  he  has  fallen  into  the  egregious 
blunder  of  asserting  that,  while  the  Mexican  territory  reached  to  the 
fourteenth  degree,  it  did  not  include  any  portion  of  Guatemala.  (See 
torn.  i.  p.  29,  and  torn.  iv.  dissert.  7.)  The  Tezcucan  chronicler 
Ixtlilxochitl  puts  in  a  sturdy  claim  for  the  paramount  empire  of  his 
own  nation.  Historia  Chichimeca,  MS.,  cap.  39,  53,  et  alibi. 

3  Eighteen  to  twenty  thousand,  according  to  Humboldt,  who  con 
siders  the  Mexican  territory  to  have  been  the  same  with  that  occupied 
by  the  modern  intendancies  of  Mexico,  Puebla,  Vera  Cruz,  Oaxaca, 
and  Valladolid.  (Essai  politique  sur  le  Royaume  de  Nouvelle- 
Espagne  (Paris,  1825),  torn.  i.  p.  196.)  This  last,  however,  was  all, 
or  nearly  all,  included  in  the  rival  kingdom  of  Michoacan,  as  he 
himself  more  correctly  states  in  another  part  of  his  work.  Comp. 
torn.  ii.  p.  164. 


4  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

growth  which  is  found  only  within  the  tropics.  In 
this  wilderness  of  sweets  lurks  the  fatal  malaria,  en 
gendered,  probably,  by  the  decomposition  of  rank 
vegetable  substances  in  a  hot  and  humid  soil.  The 
season  of  the  bilious  fever, — vbmito,  as  it  is  called, — 
which  scourges  these  coasts,  continues  from  the  spring 
to  the  autumnal  equinox,  when  it  is  checked  by  the 
cold  winds  that  descend  from  Hudson's  Bay.  These 
winds  in  the  winter  season  frequently  freshen  into 
tempests,  and,  sweeping  down  the  Atlantic  coast  and 
the  winding  Gulf  of  Mexico,  burst  with  the  fury  of  a 
hurricane  on  its  unprotected  shores,  and  on  the  neigh 
boring  West  India  islands.  Such  are  the  mighty  spells 
with  which  Nature  has  surrounded  this  land  of  enchant 
ment,  as  if  to  guard  the  golden  treasures  locked  up 
within  its  bosom.  The  genius  and  enterprise  of  man 
have  proved  more  potent  than  her  spells. 

After  passing  some  twenty  leagues  across  this  burn 
ing  region,  the  traveller  finds  himself  rising  into  a 
purer  atmosphere.  His  limbs  recover  their  elasticity. 
He  breathes  more  freely,  for  his  senses  are  not  now 
oppressed  by  the  sultry  heats  and  intoxicating  perfumes 
of  the  valley.  The  aspect  of  nature,  too,  has  changed, 
and  his  eye  no  longer  revels  among  the  gay  variety  of 
colors  with  which  the  landscape  was  painted  there. 
The  vanilla,  the  indigo,  and  the  flowering  cacao-groves 
disappear  as  he  advances.  The  sugar-cane  and  the 
glossy-leaved  banana  still  accompany  him ;  and,  when 
he  has  ascended  about  four  thousand  feet,  he  sees  in 
the  unchanging  verdure,  and  the  rich  foliage  of  the 
liquid-amber  tree,  that  he  has  reached  the  height  where 
clouds  and  mists  settle,  in  their  passage  from  the  Mex- 


CLIMATE   AND   PRODUCTS.  e 

ican  Gulf.  This  is  the  region  of  perpetual  humidity ; 
but  he  welcomes  it  with  pleasure,  as  announcing  his 
escape  from  the  influence  of  the  deadly  vbmito*  He 
has  entered  the  tierra  templada,  or  temperate  region, 
whose  character  resembles  that  of  the  temperate  zone 
of  the  globe.  The  features  of  the  scenery  become 
grand,  and  even  terrible.  His  road  sweeps  along  the 
base  of  mighty  mountains,  once  gleaming  with  volcanic 
fires,  and  still  resplendent  in  their  mantles  of  snow, 
which  serve  as  beacons  to  the  mariner,  for  many  a 
league  at  sea.  All  around  he  beholds  traces  of  their 
ancient  combustion,  as  his  road  passes  along  vast  tracts 
of  lava,  bristling  in  the  innumerable  fantastic  forms 
into  which  the  fiery  torrent  has  been  thrown  by  the 
obstacles  in  its  career.  Perhaps,  at  the  same  moment, 
as  he  casts  his  eye  down  some  steep  slope,  or  almost 
unfathomable  ravine,  on  the  margin  of  the  road,  he 
sees  their  depths  glowing  with  the  rich  blooms  and 
enamelled  vegetation  of  the  tropics.  Such  are  the 
singular  contrasts  presented,  at  the  same  time,  to  the 
senses,  in  this  picturesque  region  ! 

Still  pressing  upwards,  the  traveller  mounts  into 
other  climates,  favorable  to  other  kinds  of  cultivation. 

4  The  traveller  who  enters  the  country  across  the  dreary  sand-hills 
of  Vera  Cruz  will  hardly  recognize  the  truth  of  the  above  descrip 
tion.  He  must  look  for  it  in  other  parts  of  the  tierra  calicntc.  Of 
recent  tourists,  no  one  has  given  a  more  gorgeous  picture  of  the 
impressions  made  on  his  senses  by  these  sunny  regions  than  Latrobe, 
who  came  on  shore  at  Tampico  (Rambler  in  Mexico  (New  York, 
1836),  chap,  i), — a  traveller,  it  may  be  added,  whose  descriptions  of 
man  and  nature  in  our  own  country,  where  we  can  judge,  are  distin 
guished  by  a  sobriety  and  fairness  that  entitle  him  to  confidence  in 
his  delineation  of  other  countries. 


6  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

The  yellow  maize,  or  Indian  corn,  as  we  usually  call  it, 
has  continued  to  follow  him  up  from  the  lowest  level ; 
but  he  now  first  sees  fields  of  wheat,  and  the  other 
European  grains  brought  into  the  country  by  the  Con 
querors.  Mingled  with  them,  he  views  the  plantations 
of  the  aloe  or  maguey  (agave  Americana],  applied  to 
such  various  and  important  uses  by  the  Aztecs.  The 
oaks  now  acquire  a  sturdier  growth,  and  the  dark 
forests  of  pine  announce  that  he  has  entered  the  tierra 
fria,  or  cold  region, — the  third  and  last  of  the  great 
natural  terraces  into  which  the  country  is  divided. 
When  he  has  climbed  to  the  height  of  between  seven 
and  eight  thousand  feet,  the  weary  traveller  sets  his 
foot  on  the  summit  of  the  Cordillera  of  the  Andes, — 
the  colossal  range  that,  after  traversing  South  America 
and  the  Isthmus  of  Darien,  spreads  out,  as  it  enters 
Mexico,  into  that  vast  sheet  of  table-land  which  main 
tains  an  elevation  of  more  than  six  thousand  feet,  for 
the  distance  of  nearly  two  hundred  leagues,  until  it 
gradually  declines  in  the  higher  latitudes  of  the  north.5 
Across  this  mountain  rampart  a  chain  of  volcanic 
hills  stretches,  in  a  westerly  direction,  of  still  more 
stupendous  dimensions,  forming,  indeed,  some  of  the 
highest  land  on  the  globe.  Their  peaks,  entering  the 
limits  of  perpetual  snow,  diffuse  a  grateful  coolness  over 
the  elevated  plateaus  below;  for  these  last,  though 
termed  "cold,"  enjoy  a  climate  the  mean  temperature 
of  which  is  not  lower  than  that  of  the  central  parts  of 

5  This  long  extent  of  country  varies  in  elevation  from  5570  to  8856 
feet, — equal  to  the  height  of  the  passes  of  Mount  Cenis  or  the  Great  St. 
Bernard.  The  table-land  stretches  still  three  hundred  leagues  farther, 
before  it  declines  to  a  level  of  2624  feet.  Humboldt,  Essai  politique. 
torn.  i.  pp.  157,  255. 


CLIMATE    AND    PRODUCTS.  7 

Italy.6  The  air  is  exceedingly  dry;  the  soil,  though 
naturally  good,  is  rarely  clothed  with  the  luxuriant 
vegetation  of  the  lower  regions.  It  frequently,  indeed, 
has  a  parched  and  barren  aspect,  owing  partly  to  the 
greater  evaporation  which  takes  place  on  these  lofty 
plains,  through  the  diminished  pressure  of  the  atmos 
phere,  and  partly,  no  doubt,  to  the  want  of  trees  to 
shelter  the  soil  from  the  fierce  influence  of  the  summer 
sun.  In  the  time  of  the  Aztecs,  the  table-land  was 
thickly  covered  with  larch,  oak,  cypress,  and  other 
forest  trees,  the  extraordinary  dimensions  of  some  of 
which,  remaining  to  the  present  day,  show  that  the 
curse  of  barrenness  in  later  times  is  chargeable  more 
on  man  than  on  nature.  Indeed,  the  early  Spaniards 
made  as  indiscriminate  war  on  the  forest  as  did  our 
Puritan  ancestors,  though  with  much  less  reason. 
After  once  conquering  the  country,  they  had  no  lurk 
ing  ambush  to  fear  'from  the  submissive,  semi-civilized 
Indian,  and  were  not,  like  our  forefathers,  obliged  to 
keep  watch  and  ward  for  a  century.  This  spoliation 
of  the  ground,  however,  is  said  to  have  been  pleasing 
to  their  imaginations,  as  it  reminded  them  of  the  plains 
of  their  own  Castile, — the  table-land  of  Europe ; 7  where 

6  About  62°  Fahrenheit,  or  17°  Reaumur.     (Humboldt,  Essai  po- 
litique,  torn.  i.  p.  273.)    The  more  elevated  plateaus  of  the  table-land, 
as  the  Valley  of  Toluca,  about  8500  feet  above  the  sea,  have  a  stern 
climate,  in  which  the  thermometer,  during  a  great  part  of  the  day, 
rarely  rises  beyond  45°  F.    Idem  (loc.  cit.),  and  Malte-Brun  (Univer 
sal  Geography,  Eng.  trans.,  book  83),  who  is,  indeed,  in  this  part  of 
his  work,  but  an  echo  of  the  former  writer. 

7  The  elevation  of  the  Castiles,  according  to  the  authority  repeatedly 
cited,  is  about  350  toises,  or  2100  feet  above  the  ocean.     (Humboldt's 
Dissertation,  apud  Laborde,  Itine>aire  descriptif  de  1'Espagne  (Paris, 
1827),  torn.  i.  p.  5.)  It  is  rare  to  find  plains  in  Europe  of  so  great  a  height. 


8  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION, 

the  nakedness  of  the  landscape  forms  the  burden  of 
every  traveller's  lament  who  visits  that  country. 

Midway  across  the  continent,  somewhat  nearer  the 
Pacific  than  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  at  an  elevation  of 
nearly  seven  thousand  five  hundred  feet,  is  the  cele 
brated  Valley  of  Mexico.  It  is  of  an  oval  form,  about 
sixty-seven  leagues  in  circumference,8  and  is  encom 
passed  by  a  towering  rampart  of  porphyritic  rock, 
which  nature  seems  to  have  provided,  though  ineffect 
ually,  to  protect  it  from  invasion. 

The  soil,  once  carpeted  with  a  beautiful  verdure  and 
thickly  sprinkled  with  stately  trees,  is  often  bare,  and,  in 
many  places,  white  with  the  incrustation  of  salts  caused 
by  the  draining  of  the  waters.  Five  lakes  are  spread 
over  the  Valley,  occupying  one-tenth  of  its  surface.9 
On  the  opposite  borders  of  the  largest  of  these  basins, 
much  shrunk  in  its  dimensions10  since  the  days  of  the 

8  Archbishop  Lorenzana  estimates  the  circuit  of  the  Valley  at  ninety- 
leagues,  correcting  at  the  same  time  the  statement  of  Cort6s,  which 
puts  it  at  seventy,  very  near  the  truth,  as  appears  from  the  result  of 
M.  de  Humboldt's  measurement,  cited  in  the  text.     Its  length  is  abovit 
eighteen  leagues,  by  twelve  and  a  half  in  breadth.     (Humboldt,  Essai 
politique,  torn.  ii.  p.  29. — Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  p.  101.) 
Humboldt's  map  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico  forms  the  third  in  his  "  Atlas 
geographique  et  physique,"  and,  like  all  the  others  in  the  collection, 
will  be  found  of  inestimable  value  to  the  traveller,  the  geologist,  and 
the  historian. 

9  Humboldt,  Essai  politique,  torn.  ii.  pp.  29,  44-49. — Malte-Brun, 
book  85.     This  latter  geographer  assigns  only  6700  feet  for  the  level 
of  the  Valley,  contradicting  himself  (comp.  book  83),  or  rather  Hum 
boldt,  to  whose  pages  he  helps  himself  plenis  manibus,  somewhat  too 
liberally,  indeed,  for  the  scanty  references  at  the  bottom  of  his  page. 

10  Torquemada  accounts  in  part  for  this  diminution  by  supposing 
that,  as  God  permitted  the  waters,  which  once  covered  the  whole 
earth,  to  subside  after  mankind  had  been  nearly  exterminated  for  their 


PRIMITIVE    RACES.  9 

Aztecs,  stood  the  cities  of  Mexico  and  Tezcuco,  the 
capitals  of  the  two  most  potent  and  flourishing  states 
of  Anahuac,  whose  history,  with  that  of  the  mysterious 
races  that  preceded  them  in  the  country,*  exhibits  some 

iniquities,  so  he  allowed  the  waters  of  the  Mexican  lake  to  subside,  in 
token  of  good  will  and  reconciliation,  after  the  idolatrous  races  of  the 
land  had  been  destroyed  by  the  Spaniards!  (Monarchia  Indiana 
(Madrid,  1723),  torn.  i.  p.  309.  Quite  as  probable,  if  not  as  orthodox, 
an  explanation,  may  be  found  in  the  active  evaporation  of  these  upper 
regions,  and  in  the  fact  of  an  immense  drain  having  been  constructed, 
during  the  lifetime  of  the  good  father,  to  reduce  the  waters  of  the 
principal  lake  and  protect  the  capital  from  inundation. 


*  [It  is  perhaps  to  be  regretted  that,  instead  of  a  meagre  notice  of 
the  Toltecs  with  a  passing  allusion  to  earlier  races,  the  author  did  not 
give  a  separate  chapter  to  the  history  of  the  country  during  the  ages 
preceding  the  Conquest.  That  history,  it  is  true,  resting  on  tradition 
or  on  questionable  records  mingled  with  legendary  and  mythological 
relations,  is  full  of  obscurity  and  doubt.  But,  whatever  its  uncertainty 
in  regard  to  details,  it  presents  a  mass  of  general  facts  supported  by 
analogy  and  by  the  stronger  evidence  of  language  and  of  the  existing 
relics  of  the  past.  The  number  and  diversity  of  the  architectural  and 
other  remains  found  on  the  soil  of  Mexico  and  the  adjacent  regions, 
and  the  immense  variety  of  the  spoken  languages,  with  the  vestiges  of 
others  that  have  passed  out  of  use, — all  perhaps  derived  originally  from 
a  common  stock,  but  exhibiting  different  stages  of  development  or 
decay,  and  capable  of  being  classified  into  several  distinct  families, — 
point  to  conclusions  that  render  the  subject  one  of  the  most  attractive 
fields  for  critical  investigation.  These  concurrent  testimonies  leave  no 
doubt  that,  like  portions  of  the  Old  World  similarly  favored  in  regard 
to  climate,  soil,  and  situation,  the  central  regions  of  America  were 
occupied  from  a  very  remote  period  by  nations  which  made  distinct 
advances  in  civilization,  and  passed  through  a  cycle  of  revolutions 
comparable  to  that  of  which  the  Valley  of  the  Euphrates  and  other 
parts  of  Asia  were  anciently  the  scene.  The  useful  arts  were  known 
and  practised,  wealth  was  accumulated,  social  systems  exhibiting  a 
certain  refinement  and  a  peculiar  complexity  were  organized,  states 
were  established  which  flourished,  decayed, — either  from  the  effects  of 


10  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

of  the  nearest  approaches  to  civilization  to  be  met  with 
anciently  on  the  North  American  continent. 

Of  these  races  the  most  conspicuous  were  the  Toltecs. 
Advancing  from  a  northerly  direction,  but  from  what 
region  is  uncertain,*  they  entered  the  territory  of  Ana- 
isolation  or  an  inherent  incapacity  for  continuance, — and  were  finally 
overthrown  by  invaders.by  whom  the  experiment  was  repeated,  though 
not  always  with  equal  success.  Some  of  these  nations  passed  away, 
leaving  no  trace  but  their  names  ;  others,  whose  very  names  are  un 
known,  left  mysterious  monuments  imbedded  in  the  soil  or  records 
that  are  undecipherable.  Of  those  that  still  remain,  comprising  about 
a  dozen  distinct  races  speaking  a  hundred  and  twenty  different  dialects, 
we  have  the  traditions  preserved  either  in  their  own  records  or  in  those 
of  the  Spanish  discoverers.  The  task  of  constructing  out  of  these  mate 
rials  a  history  shorn  of  the  adornments  of  mythology  and  fable  has  been 
attempted  by  the  Abbe  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg  (Histoire  des  Nations 
civilisees  du  Mexique  et  de  1'Amerique-Centrale,  durant  les  Siecles 
anterieurs  k  Christophe  Colomb,  4  vols.,  Paris,  1857-59),  and,  what 
ever  may  be  thought  of  the  method  he  has  pursued,  his  research  is 
unquestionable,  and  his  views — very  different  from  those  which  he  has 
since  put  forth— merit  attention.  A  more  practical  effort  has  been 
made  by  Don  Manuel  Orozco  y  Berra  to  trace  the  order,  diffusion, 
and  relations  of  the  various  races  by  the  differences,  the  intermixtures, 
and  the  geographical  limits  of  their  languages.  (Geografia  de  las 
Lenguas  y  Carta  etnografica  de  Mexico,  precedidas  de  un  Ensayo  de 
Clasificacion  de  las  mismas  Lenguas  y  de  Apuntes  para  las  Inmigra- 
ciones  de  las  Tribus,  Mexico,  1864. — ED.] 

*  [The  uncertainty  is  not  diminished  by  our  being  told  that  Tollan, 
Tullan,  Tulan,  or  Tula  (called  also  Tlapallan  and  Huehuetlapallan) 
was  the  original  seat  of  this  people,  since  we  are  still  left  in  doubt 
whether  the  country  so  designated — like  Aztlan,  the  supposed  point 
of  departure  of  the  Aztecs — is  to  be  located  in  New  Mexico,  Cali 
fornia,  the  northwestern  extremity  of  America,  or  in  Asia.  M.  Bras 
seur  de  Bourbourg  (whose  later  speculations,  in  which  the  name 
plays  a  conspicuous  part,  will  be  noticed  more  appropriately  in  the 
Appendix)  found  in  the  Quiche  manuscripts  mention  of  four  Tollans, 
one  of  them  "  in  the  east,  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea."  "  But,"  he  adds, 
"  in  what  part  of  the  world  is  it  to  be  placed?  C'est  la  encore  une 


PRIMITIVE    RACES.  „ 

huac,"  probably  before  the  close  of  the  seventh  century. 
Of  course,  little  can  be  gleaned  with  certainty  respect- 

11  Anahuac,  according  to  Humboldt,  comprehended  only  the  coun 
try  between  the  fourteenth  and  twenty-first  degrees  of  north  latitude. 

question  bien  difficile  &  rcsoudre."  (Hist,  des  Nations  civilisees 
du  Mexique,  torn.  i.  pp.  167,  168.)  Nor  will  the  etymology  much 
help  us.  According  to  Buschmann,  Tolhih.  is  derived  from  tolin, 
reed,  and  signifies  "place  of  reeds,"— "  Ort  der  Binsen,  Platz  mit 
Binsen  gewachsen,  juncelum."  (Uber  die  a/.tekischen  Ortsnamen, 
S.  682.)  He  refers,  however,  to  a  different  derivation,  suggested  by  a 
writer  who  has  made  it  the  basis  of  one  of  those  extraordinary  theo 
ries  which  are  propounded  from  time  to  time,  to  account  for  the  first 
diffusion  of  the  human  race,  and  more  particularly  for  the  original 
settlement  of  America.  According  to  this  theory,  the  cradle  of  man 
kind  was  the  Himalayan  Mountains.  "  But  the  collective  name  of 
these  lofty  regions  was  very  anciently  designated  by  appellations  the 
roots  of  which  were  Tal,  Tol,  Till,  meaning  tall,  high,  ...  as  it  does 
yet  in  many  languages,  the  English,  Chinese,  and  Arabic  for  instance. 
Such  were  Tola,  Thata,  Talaha,  Titian,  etc.,  in  the  old  Sanscrit  and 
primitive  languages  of  Asia.  Whence  came  the  Asiatic  Atlas  and 
also  the  Atlantes  of  the  Greeks,  who,  spreading  through  the  world 
westerly,  gave  these  names  to  many  other  places  and  nations.  .  .  . 
The  Talas  or  Atlantes  occupied  or  conquered  Europe  and  Africa,  nay, 
went  to  America  in  very  early  times.  ...  In  Greece  they  became 
Atalantes,  Talautians  of  Epirus,  Actolians.  .  .  .  They  gave  name  to 
Italy,  Aitala  meaning  land  eminent,  ...  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and 
to  the  great  Atlantis,  or  America,  called  in  the  Hindu  books  Atala 
or  Tala-tolo,  the  fourth  world,  where  dwelt  giants  or  powerful  men. 
.  .  .  America  is  also  filled  with  their  names  and  deeds  from  Mexico 
and  Carolina  to  Peru  :  the  Tol-tecas,  people  of  Tol,  and  Aztlan, 
Otolum  near  Palenque,  many  towns  of  Tula  and  Tolu  ;  the  Talas  of 
Michuacan,  the  Matalans,  Atalans,  Tulukis,  etc.,  of  North  America." 
(C.  S.  Rafinesque,  Atlantic  Journal,  Philadelphia,  1832-33.)  It  need 
hardly  be  added  that  Tula  has  also  been  identified  with  the  equally 
unknown  and  long-sought-for  ultima  Thule,  with  the  simplifying  effect 
of  bringing  two  streams  of  inquiry  into  one  channel.  Meanwhile,  by 
a  different  kind  of  criticism,  the  whole  question  is  dissipated  into  thin 
air,  Tollan  and  Aztlan  being  resolved  into  names  of  mere  mythical 


I2  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

ing  a  people  whose  written  records  have  perished,  and 
who  are  known  to  us  only  through  the  traditionary 
legends  of  the  nations  that  succeeded  them.12  By  the 

(Essai  politique,  torn.  i.  p.  197.)  According  to  Clavigero,  it  included 
nearly  all  since  known  as  New  Spain.  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p. 
27.)  Veytia  uses  it,  also,  as  synonymous  with  New  Spain.  (Historia 
antigua  de  Mejico  (Mejico,  1836),  torn.  i.  cap.  12.)  The  first  of  these 
writers  probably  allows  too  little,  as  the  latter  do  too  much,  for  its 
boundaries.  Ixtlilxochitl  says  it  extended  four  hundred  leagues  south 
of  the  Otomi  country.  (Hist.  Chichimeca,  MS.,  cap.  73.)  The  word 
Anahuac  signifies  near  the  water.  It  was,  probably,  first  applied  to 
the  country  around  the  lakes  in  the  Mexican  Valley,  and  gradually 
extended  to  the  remoter  regions  occupied  by  the  Aztecs  and  the  other 
semi-civilized  races.  Or  possibly  the  name  may  have  been  intended, 
as  Veytia  suggests  (Hist,  antig.,  lib.  i,  cap.  i),  to  denote  the  land 
between  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific.* 

12  Clavigero  talks  of  Boturini's  having  written  "  on  the  faith  of  the 
Toltec  historians."  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn,  i.  p.  128.)  But  that 
scholar  does  not  pretend  to  have  ever  met  with  a  Toltec  manuscript 
himself,  and  had  heard  of  only  one  in  the  possession  of  Ixtlilxochitl. 
(See  his  Idea  de  unanueva  Historiageneral  de  la  America  Septentrional 
(Madrid,  1746),  p.  no.)  The  latter  writer  tells  us  that  his  account  of 
the  Toltec  and  Chichimec  races  was  "derived  from  interpretation" 


import,  and  the  regions  thus  designated  transferred  from  the  earth  to 
the  bright  domain  of  the  sky,  from  which  the  descriptions  in  the 
legends  appear  to  have  been  borrowed.  See  Brinton,  Myths  of  the 
New  World,  pp.  88,  89.— ED.] 

*  [This  suggestion  of  Veytia  is  unworthy  of  attention, — refuted  by 
the  actual  application  and  appropriateness  of  the  name,  and  by  the 
state  of  geographical  knowledge  and  ideas  at  the  period  when  it  must 
have  originated.  A  modern  traveller,  describing  the  appearance  of 
the  great  plains  as  seen  from  the  summit  of  Popocatepetl,  remarks, 
"  Even  now  that  the  lakes  have  shrunk  to  a  fraction  of  their  former 
size,  we  could  see  the  fitness  of  the  name  given  in  old  time?  to  the 
Valley  of  Mexico,  Anahuac,  that  is,  By  the  water-side."  Tylor,  Ana 
huac  ;  or  Mexico  and  the  Mexicans,  Ancient  and  Modern  (London, 
1861),  p.  270. — ED.] 


PRIMITIVE    RACES.  13 

general  agreement  of  these,  however,  the  Toltecs  were 
well  instructed  in  agriculture  and  many  of  the  most 
useful  mechanic  arts ;  were  nice  workers  of  metals ; 
invented  the  complex  arrangement  of  time  adopted  by 
the  Aztecs ;  and,  in  short,  were  the  true  fountains  of 
the  civilization  which  distinguished  this  part  of  the 
continent  in  later  times.13  They  established  their  capi 
tal  at  Tula,  north  of  the  Mexican  Valley,  and  the  re 
mains  of  extensive  buildings  were  to  be  discerned  there 
at  the  time  of  the  Conquest.14  The  noble  ruins  of 
religious  and  other  edifices,  still  to  be  seen  in  various 
parts  of  New  Spain,  are  referred  to  this  people,  whose 

(probably  of  the  Tezcucan  paintings),  "  and  from  the  traditions  of  old 
men  ;"  poor  authority  for  events  which  had  passed  centuries  before. 
Indeed,  he  acknowledges  that  their  narratives  were  so  full  of  absurdity 
and  falsehood  that  he  was  obliged  to  reject  nine-tenths  of  them.  (See 
his  Relaciones,  MS.,  no.  5.)  The  cause  of  truth  would  not  have 
suffered  much,  probably,  if  he  had  rejected  nine-tenths  of  the  re 
mainder.* 

J3  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  2. — Idem,  Relaciones,  MS., 
no.  2. — Sahagun,  Historia  general  de  las  Cosas  de  Nueva-Espana 
(Mexico,  1829),  lib.  10,  cap.  29. — Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  i,  cap.  27. 

*4  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  10,  cap.  29. 


*  [Ixtlilxochitl's  language  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  he  con 
sidered  any  of  the  relations  he  had  received  as  false  or  absurd,  nor 
does  he  say  that  he  had  rejected  nine-tenths  of  them.  What  he  has 
written  is,  he  asserts,  "  the  true  history  of  the  Toltecs,"  though  it  does 
not  amount  to  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  ("  de  lo  que  ello  fue"),  i.e., 
of  what  had  been  contained  in  the  original  records  ;  these  records  hav 
ing  perished,  and  he  himself  having  abridged  the  accounts  he  had 
been  able  to  obtain  of  their  contents,  as  well  for  the  sake  of  brevity 
as  because  of  the  marvellous  character  of  the  relations  ("  son  tan 
estranas  las  cosas  y  tan  peregrinas  y  nunca  oidas").  The  sources  of 
his  information  are  also  incorrectly  described  ;  but  a  further  mention 
of  them  will  be  found  in  a  note  at  the  end  of  this  Book. — ED.] 
VOL.  I.  2 


I4  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

name,  To/tec,  has  passed  into  a  synonym  for  architect* 
Their  shadowy  history  reminds  us  of  those  primitive 
races  who  preceded  the  ancient  Egyptians  in  the  march 
of  civilization  ;  fragments  of  whose  monuments,  as  they 
are  seen  at  this  day,  incorporated  with  the  buildings 
of  the  Egyptians  themselves,  give  to  these  latter  the 
appearance  of  almost  modern  constructions.16 

After  a  period  of  four  centuries,  the  Toltecs,  v/ho 
had  extended  their  sway  over  the  remotest  borders  of 
Anahuac,17  having  been  greatly  reduced,  it  is  said,  by 
famine,  pestilence,  and  unsuccessful  wars,  disappeared 
from  the  land  as  silently  and  mysteriously  as  they  had 
entered  it.  A  few  of  them  still  lingered  behind,  but 
much  the  greater  number,  probably,  spread  over  the 
region  of  Central  America  and  the  neighboring  isles  ; 
and  the  traveller  now  speculates  on  the  majestic  ruins 
of  Mitla  and  Palenque,  as  possibly  the  work  of  this 
extraordinary  people.18* 

xs  Sahagun,  ubi  supra. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  i,  cap.  14, 

16  Description  de  1'Egypte  (Paris,  1809),  Antiquites,  torn.  i.  cap.  i. 
Veytia  has  traced  the  migrations  of  the  Toltecs  with  sufficient  industry, 
scarcely  rewarded  by  the  necessarily  doubtful  credit  of  the  results. 
Hist,  antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  21-33. 

X7  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  73. 

18  Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  i,  cap.  33. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich., 
MS.,  cap.  3. — Idem,  Relaciones,  MS.,  nos.  4,  5. — Father  Torque 
mada — perhaps  misinterpreting  the  Tezcucan  hieroglyphics — has  ac 
counted  for  this  mysterious  disappearance  of  the  Toltecs  by  such 
fee-faw-fum  stories  of  giants  and  demons  as  show  his  appetite  for  the 
marvellous  was  fully  equal  to  that  of  any  of  his  calling.  See  his 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  i,  cap.  14. 


*  [This  supposition,  neither  adopted  nor  rejected  in  the  text,  was, 
as  Mr.  Tylor  remarks,  "  quite  tenable  at  the  time  that  Prescott  wrote," 
being  founded  on  the  statements  of  early  writers  and  partially  sup- 


PRIMITIVE    RACES.  !5 

After  the  lapse  of  another  hundred  years,  a  numer 
ous  and  rude  tribe,  called  the  Chichimecs,  entered  the 
deserted  country  from  the  regions  of  the  far  North 
west.  They  were  speedily  followed  by  other  races,  of 
higher  civilization,  perhaps  of  the  same  family  with 
the  Toltecs,  whose  language  they  appear  to  have  spoken. 
The  most  noted  of  these  were  the  Aztecs  or  Mexicans, 
and  the  Acolhuans.  The  latter,  better  known  in  later 
times  by  the  name  of  Tezcucans,  from  their  capital, 
Tezcuco/9  on  the  eastern  border  of  the  Mexican  lake, 

19  Tezcuco  signifies  "place  of  detention;"  as  several  of  the  tribes 
who  successively  occupied  Anahuac  were  said  to  have  halted  some 
time  at  the  spot.  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  10.* 


ported  by  the  conclusions  of  Mr.  Stephens,  who  believed  that  the 
ruined  cities  of  Oaxaca,  Chiapa,  Yucatan,  and  Guatemala  dated  from 
a  comparatively  recent  period,  and  were  still  flourishing  at  the  time  of 
the  Spanish  Conquest ;  and  that  their  inhabitants,  the  ancestors,  as  he 
contends,  of  the  degenerate  race  that  now  occupies  the  soil,  were  of 
the  same  stock  and  spoke  the  same  language  as  the  Mexicans.  (Inci 
dents  of  Travel  in  Central  America,  Chiapas,  and  Yucatan.)  But  these 
opinions  have  been  refuted  by  later  investigators.  Orozco  y  Berra,  in 
an  elaborate  and  satisfactory  examination  of  the  question,  discusses 
all  the  evidence  relating  to  it,  compares  the  remains  in  the  southern 
provinces  with  those  of  the  Valley  of  Mexico,  points  out  the  essential 
differences  in  the  architecture,  sculpture,  and  inscriptions,  and  arrives 
at  the  conclusion  that  there  was  "  no  point  of  contact  or  resemblance" 
between  the  two  civilizations.  He  considers  that  of  the  southern 
provinces,  though  of  a  far  higher  grade,  as  long  anterior  in  time  to 
the  Toltec  domination, — the  work  of  a  people  which  had  passed  away, 
under  the  assaults  of  barbarism,  at  a  period  prior  to  all  traditions, 
leaving  no  name  and  no  trace  of  their  existence  save  those  monu 
ments  which,  neglected  and  forgotten  by  their  successors,  have  become 
the  riddle  of  later  generations.  Geograf  ia  de  las  Lenguas  de  Mexico, 
pp.  122-131.  See  also  Tylor,  Anahuac,  p.  189,  et  seq. — El).] 

*  ["  Uber  die  Etymologic   lasst  sich  nichts  sicheres  sagen,"  says 
Buschmann,  "  so  zuversichtlich  auch  Prescott,  \vohl  nach  Ixtlilxochitl, 


1 6  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

were  peculiarly  fitted,  by  their  comparatively  mild 
religion  and  manners,  for  receiving  the  tincture  of 
civilization  which  could  be  derived  from  the  few  Tol- 
tecs  that  still  remained  in  the  country.*  This,  in  their 
turn,  they  communicated  to  the  barbarous  Chichimecs, 
a  large  portion  of  whom  became  amalgamated  with 
the  new  settlers  as  one  nation.20 

30  The  historian  speaks,  in  one  page,  of  the  Chichimecs  burrowing 
in  caves,  or,  at  best,  in  cabins  of  straw,  and,  in  the  next,  talks  gravely 
of  their  senoras,  infantas,  and  caballeros  /f  Ibid.,  cap.  9,  et  seq. — 
Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  i-io. — Camargo,  Historia  de  Tlascala, 
MS. 

den  Namen  durchptace  of  detention  iibersetzt."  Uber  die  aztekischen 
Ortsnamen,  S.  697. — El).] 

*  [It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  the  two  statements  that  the  Toltecs 
"  were  the  true  fountains  of  the  civilization  which  distinguished  this  part 
of  the  continent  in  later  times,"  and  that  they  "  disappeared  from  the 
land  as  silently  and  mysteriously  as  they  had  entered  it,"  leaving  an 
interval  of  more  than  a  century  before  the  appearance  of  the  Aztecs 
and  the  Acolhuans.  If  the  latter  received  from  the  former  the  knowl 
edge  of  those  arts  in  which  they  speedily  rivalled  them,  it  must  have 
been  by  more  direct  communication  and  transmission  than  can  be 
inferred  from  the  mention  of  a  small  fraction  of  the  Toltec  population 
as  remaining  in  the  country, — a  fact  which  has  itself  the  appearance 
of  having  been  invented  to  meet  the  difficulty.  Ofozco  y  Berra 
compares  this  transitional  period  with  that  which  followed  the  over 
throw  of  the  Roman  Empire  ;  but  if  in  the  former  case  there  was,  in 
his  own  words,  "  no  conquest,  but  only  an  occupation,  no  war  because 
no  one  to  contend  with,"  the  analogy  altogether  fails.  Brasseur  de 
Bourbourg  reduces  the  interval  between  the  departure  of  the  Toltecs 
and  the  arrival  of  the  Chichimecs  to  a  few  years,  and  supposes  that 
a  considerable  number  of  the  former  inhabitants  remained  scattered 
through  the  Valley.  If,  however,  it  be  allowable  to  substitute  proba 
bilities  for  doubtful  relations,  it  is  an  easier  solution  to  believe  that  no 
interval  occurred  and  that  no  emigration  took  place. — ED.] 

"f"  [The  confusion  arises  from  the  fact  that  the  name  of  Chichimecs, 
originally  that  of  a  single  tribe,  and  subsequently  of  its  many  offshoots, 


PRIMITIVE    RACES.  !7 

Availing  themselves  of  the  strength  derived,  not 
only  from  this  increase  of  numbers,  but  from  their  own 
superior  refinement,  the  Acolhuans  gradually  stretched 
their  empire  over  the  ruder  tribes  in  the  north ;  while 
their  capital  was  filled  with  a  numerous  population, 
busily  employed  in  many  of  the  more  useful  and  even 
elegant  arts  of  a  civilized  community.  In  this  palmy 
state,  they  were  suddenly  assaulted  by  a  warlike  neigh 
bor,  the  Tepanecs,  their  own  kindred,  and  inhabitants 
of  the  same  valley  as  themselves.  Their  provinces 
were  overrun,  their  armies  beaten,  their  king  assassin 
ated,  and  the  flourishing  city  of  Tezcuco  became  the 
prize  of  the  victor.  From  this  abject  condition  the 
uncommon  abilities  of  the  young  prince,  Nczahual- 
coyotl,  the  rightful  heir  to  the  crown,  backed  by  the 
efficient  aid  of  his  Mexican  allies,  at  length  redeemed 
the  state,  and  opened  to  it  a  new  career  of  prosperity, 
even  more  brilliant  than  the  former.21 

The  Mexicans,  with  whom  our  history  is  principally 
concerned,  came  also,  as  we  have  seen,  from  the  remote 
regions  of  the  North, — the  populous  hive  of  nations 
in  the  New  World,  as  it  has  been  in  the  Old.*  They 

»  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  9-20.— Veytia,  Hist,  antig.. 
lib.  2,  cap.  29-54. 

was  also  used,  like  the  term  barbarians  in  mediaeval  Italy,  to  designate 
successive  hordes,  of  whatever  race,  being  sometimes  employed  as  a 
mark  of  contempt,  and  sometimes  assumed  as  an  honorable  appella 
tion.  It  is  found  applied  to  the  Otomies,  the  Toltecs,  and  many  other 
races. — ED.] 

*  [Some  recent  writers  have  contended  that  Mexico  must  have  been 

peopled  originallv  by  migrations  from  the  South.     Aztec  names  and 

communities,  and  traces  of  Toltec  settlements  long  anterior  to  the 

occupation  of  Anahuac  by  the  same  people,  are  found  in  several  parts 

VOL.  I.— b  2* 


!8  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

arrived  on  the  borders  of  Anahuac  towards  the  begin- 
ing  of  the  thirteenth  century,  some  time  after  the 
occupation  of  the  land  by  the  kindred  races.  For  a 
long  time  they  did  not  establish  themselves  in  any 
permanent  residence,  but  continued  shifting  their  quar 
ters  to  different  parts  of  the  Mexican  Valley,  enduring 
all  the  casualties  and  hardships  of  a  migratory  life. 
On  one  occasion  they  were  enslaved  by  a  more  power 
ful  tribe ;  but  their  ferocity  soon  made  them  formi 
dable  to  their  masters.22  After  a  series  of  wanderings 
and  adventures  which  need  not  shrink  from  comparison 

23  These  were  the  Colhuans,  not  Acolhuans,  with  whom  Humboldt, 
and  most  writers  since,  have  confounded  them.*  See  his  Essai  poli- 
tique,  torn.  i.  p.  414 ;  ii.  p.  37. 


of  Central  America.  The  most  primitive  traditions,  as  well  as  the  re 
mains  of  the  earliest  civilization,  belong  also  to  the  same  quarter.  This 
latter  fact,  however,  is  considered  by  Orozco  y  Berra  as  itself  an  evi 
dence  of  the  migrations  having  been  from  the  North,  the  first  comers 
having  been  naturally  attracted  southward  by  a  warmer  climate  and 
more  fertile  soil,  or  pushed  onward  in  this  direction  by  successive 
invasions  from  behind.  Contradictory  inferences  have  in  like  manner 
been  drawn  from  the  existence  of  Aztec  remains  and  settlements  in 
New  Mexico  and  Arizona.  All  that  can  be  said  with  confidence  is 
that  neither  of  the  opposing  theories  rests  on  a  secure  and  sufficient 
basis.— ED.] 

*  [Humboldt,  strictly  speaking,  has  not  confounded  the  Colhuans 
with  the  Acolhuans,  but  has  written,  in  the  places  cited,  the  latter  name 
for  the  former.  "  Letzterer  Name,"  says  Buschmann,  "  ist  der  erstere 
mit  dem  Zusatz  von  ail  Wasser,—  Wasser  Colhuer."  ( Uber  die  azte- 
kischen  Ortsnamen,  S.  690.)  Yet  the  two  tribes,  according  to  the  same 
authority,  were  entirely  distinct,  one  alone — though  which,  he  is  un 
able  to  determine— being  of  the  Nahuatlac  race.  Orozco  y  Berra, 
however,  makes  them  both  of  this  stock,  the  Acolhuans  being  one  of 
the  main  branches,  the  Colhuans  merely  the  descendants  of  the  Toltec 
remnant  in  Anahuac. — ED.] 


PRIMITIVE    RACES.  !9 

with  the  most  extravagant  legends  of  the  heroic  ages 
of  antiquity,  they  at  length  halted  on  the  southwestern 
borders  of  the  principal  lake,  in  the  year  1325.  They 
there  beheld,  perched  on  the  stem  of  a  prickly  pear, 
which  shot  out  from  the  crevice  of  a  rock  that  was 
washed  by  the  waves,  a  royal  eagle  of  extraordinary 
size  and  beauty,  with  a  serpent  in  his  talons,  and  his 
broad  wings  opened  to  the  rising  sun.  They  hailed 
the  auspicious  omen,  announced  by  an  oracle  as  indi 
cating  the  site  of  their  future  city,  and  laid  its  founda 
tions  by  sinking  piles  into  the  shallows  ;  for  the  low 
marshes  were  half  buried  under  water.  On  these  they 
erected  their  light  fabrics  of  reeds  and  rushes,  and 
sought  a  precarious  subsistence  from  fishing,  and  from 
the  wild  fowl  which  frequented  the  waters,  as  well  as 
from  the  cultivation  of  such  simple  vegetables  as  they 
could  raise  on  their  floating  gardens.  The  place  was 
called  Tenochtitlan,  in  token  of  its  miraculous  origin, 
though  only  known  to  Europeans  by  its  other  name  of 
Mexico,*  derived  from  their  war-god,  Mexitli.23  The 
legend  of  its  foundation  is  still  further  commemorated 
by  the  device  of  the  eagle  and  the  cactus,  which  form 
the  arms  of  the  modern  Mexican  republic.  Such  were 

23  Clavigero  gives  good  reasons  for  preferring  the  etymology  of 
Mexico  above  noticed,  to  various  others.  (See  his  Stor.  del  Messico, 
torn.  i.  p.  168,  nota.)  The  name  Tenochfitlnn  signifies  tunal  (a  cac 
tus)  on  a  stone.  Esplicacion  de  la  Col.  de  Mendoza,  apud  Antiq.  of 
Mexico,  vol.  iv. 

*  [This  is  not  quite  correct,  since  the  form  used  in  the  letters  of 
Cortes  and  other  early  documents  is  Tcmixtitan,  which  is  explained  as 
a  corruption  of  Tenochtitlan.  The  letters  rand  ch  are  convertible,  and 
have  the  same  sound, — that  of  the  English  s/i.  Kfcxico  is  hfexitl\\'\\\\ 
the  place-designation  co,  tl  final  being  dropped  before  an  affix. — ED.] 


20  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

the  humble  beginnings  of  the  Venice  of  the  Western 
World.24 

The  forlorn  condition  of  the  new  settlers  was  made 
still  worse  by  domestic  feuds.  A  part  of  the  citizens 
seceded  from  the  main  body,  and  formed  a  separate 
community  on  the  neighboring  marshes.  Thus  divided, 
it  was  long  before  they  could  aspire  to  the  acquisition 
of  territory  on  the  main  land.  They  gradually  in 
creased,  however,  in  numbers,  and  strengthened  them 
selves  yet  more  by  various  improvements  in  their  polity 
and  military  discipline,  while  they  established  a  reputa 
tion  for  courage  as  well  as  cruelty  in  war  which  made 
their  name  terrible  throughout  the  Valley.  In  the 
early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  nearly  a  hundred 
years  from  the  foundation  of  the  city,  an  event  took 

24  "  Daturhsec  veniaantiquitati,"  says  Livy,  "  ut,  miscendo  humana 
divinis,  primordia  urbium  augustiora  faciat."  Hist.  Preef. — See,  for 
the  above  paragraph,  Col.  de  Mendoza,  plate  i,  apud  Antiq.  of 
Mexico,  vol.  i., — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  10, — Toribio, 
Historia  de  los  Indies,  MS.,  Parte  3,  cap.  8, — Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib. 
2,  cap.  15. — Clavigero,  after  a  laborious  examination,  assigns  the 
following  dates  to  some  of  the  prominent  events  noticed  in  the  text. 
No  two  authorities  agree  on  them  ;  and  this  is  not  strange,  considering 
that  Clavigero — the  most  inquisitive  of  all— does  not  always  agree 
with  himself.  (Compare  his  dates  for  the  coming  of  the  Acolhuans. 
torn.  i.  p.  147,  and  torn,  iv.,  dissert.  2:) — 

A.D. 

The  Toltecs  arrived  in  Anahuac 648 

They  abandoned  the  country 051 

The  Chichimecs  arrived 170 

The  Acolhuans  arrived  about         .......  200 

The  Mexicans  reached  Tula          .          ......  196 

They  founded  Mexico    .........  325 

See  his  dissert.  2,  sec.  12.  In  the  last  date,  the  one  of  most  impor 
tance,  he  is  confirmed  by  the  learned  Veytia,  who  differs  from  him  in 
all  the  others.  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  15. 


AZTEC   EMPIRE.  2I 

place  which  created  an  entire  revolution  in  the  circum 
stances  and,  to  some  extent,  in  the  character  of  the 
Aztecs.  This  was  the  subversion  of  the  Tezcucan 
monarchy  by  the  Tepanecs,  already  noticed.  When 
the  oppressive  conduct  of  the  victors  had  at  length 
aroused  a  spirit  of  resistance,  its  prince,  Nezahual- 
coyotl,  succeeded,  after  incredible  perils  and  escapes, 
in  mustering  such  a  force  as,  with  the  aid  of  the 
Mexicans,  placed  him  on  a  level  with  his  enemies.  In 
two  successive  battles,  these  were  defeated  with  great 
slaughter,  their  chief  slain,  and  their  territory,  by  one 
of  those  sudden  reverses  which  characterize  the  wars 
of  petty  states,  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  conquerors. 
It  was  awarded  to  Mexico,  in  return  for  its  important 
services. 

Then  was  formed  that  remarkable  league,  which, 
indeed,  has  no  parallel  in  history.  It  was  agreed 
between  the  states  of  Mexico,  Tezcuco,  and  the  neigh 
boring  little  kingdom  of  Tlacopan,  that  they  should 
mutually  support  each  other  in  their  wars,  offensive  and 
defensive,  and  that  in  the  distribution  of  the  spoil  one- 
fifth  should  be  assigned  to  Tlacopan,  and  the  remainder 
be  divided,  in  what  proportions  is  uncertain,  between 
the  other  powers.  The  Tezcucan  writers  claim  an 
equal  share  for  their  nation  with  the  Aztecs.  But  this 
does  not  seem  to  be  warranted  by  the  immense  increase 
of  territory  subsequently  appropriated  by  the  latter. 
And  we  may  account  for  any  advantage  conceded  to 
them  by  the  treaty,  on  the  supposition  that,  however 
inferior  they  may  have  been  originally,  they  were,  at 
the  time  of  making  it,  in  a  more  prosperous  condition 
than  their  allies,  broken  and  dispirited  by  long  op- 


22  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

pression.  What  is  more  extraordinary  than  the  treaty 
itself,  however,  is  the  fidelity  with  which  it  was  main 
tained.  During  a  century  of  uninterrupted  warfare 
that  ensued,  no  instance  occurred  where  the  parties 
quarrelled  over  the  division  of  the  spoil,  which  so  often 
makes  shipwreck  of  similar  confederacies  among  civil 
ized  states.25 

The  allies  for  some  time  found  sufficient  occupation 
for  their  arms  in  their  own  valley  ;  but  they  soon  over 
leaped  its  rocky  ramparts,  and  by  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  under  the  first  Montezuma,  had 
spread  down  the  sides  of  the  table-land  to  the  borders 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Tenochtitlan,  the  Aztec 
capital,  gave  evidence  of  the  public  prosperity.  Its 
frail  tenements  were  supplanted  by  solid  structures  of 
stone  and  lime.  Its  population  rapidly  increased.  Its 
old  feuds  were  healed.  The  citizens  who  had  seceded 
were  again  brought  under  a  common  government  with 
the  main  body,  and  the  quarter  they  occupied  was 

2S  The  loyal  Tezcucan  chronicler  claims  the  supreme  dignity  for  his 
own  sovereign,  if  not  the  greatest  share  of  the  spoil,  by  this  imperial 
compact.  (Hist.  Chich.,  cap.  32.)  Torquemada,  on  the  other  hand, 
claims  one-half  of  all  the  conquered  lands  for  Mexico.  (Monarch. 
Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  40.)  All  agree  in  assigning  only  one-fifth  to  Tlacopan  ; 
and  Veytia  (Hist,  antig.,  lib.  3,  cap.  3)  and  Zurita  (Rapport  sur  les 
differentes  Classes  de  Chefs  de  la  Nouvelle-Espagne,  trad,  de  Ternaux 
(Paris,  1840),  p.  u),both  very  competent  critics,  acquiesce  in  an  equal 
division  between  the  two  principal  states  in  the  confederacy.  An  ode, 
still  extant,  of  Nezahualcoyotl,  in  its  Castilian  version,  bears  testimony 
to  the  singular  union  of  the  three  powers  : 

"  solo  se  acordaran  en  las  Naciones 
lo  bien  que  gobernaron 
las  tres  Cabezas  que  el  Imperio  honraron." 

Cantares  del  Emperador 
Nezahualcoyot!,  MS. 


AZTEC   EMPIRE.  23 

permanently  connected  with  the  parent  city;  the 
dimensions  of  which,  covering  the  same  ground,  were 
much  larger  than  those  of  the  modern  capital  of 
Mexico.26 

Fortunately,  the  throne  was  filled  by  a  succession  of 
able  princes,  who  knew  how  to  profit  by  their  enlarged 
resources  and  by  the  martial  enthusiasm  of  the  nation. 
Year  after  year  saw  them  return,  loaded  with  the  spoils 
of  conquered  cities,  and  with  throngs  of  devoted  cap 
tives,  to  their  capital.  No  state  was  able  long  to  resist 
the  accumulated  strength  of  the  confederates.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  just  before  the 
arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  the  Aztec  dominion  reached 
across  the  continent,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific, 
and,  under  the  bold  and  bloody  Ahuitzotl,  its  arms  had 
been  carried  far  over  the  limits  already  noticed  as 
defining  its  permanent  territory,  into  the  farthest 
corners  of  Guatemala  and  Nicaragua.  This  extent  of 
empire,  however  limited  in  comparison  with  that  of 
many  other  states,  is  truly  wonderful,  considering  it  as 
the  acquisition  of  a  people  whose  whole  population  and 
resources  had  so  recently  been  comprised  within  the 
walls  of  their  own  petty  city,  and  considering,  more 
over,  that  the  conquered  territory  was  thickly  settled 
by  various  races,  bred  to  arms  like  the  Mexicans,  and 
little  inferior  to  them  in  social  organization.  The 
history  of  the  Aztecs  suggests  some  strong  points  of 

26  See  the  plans  of  the  ancient  and  modern  capital,  in  Bullock's 
"  Mexico,"  first  edition.  The  original  of  the  ancient  map  was  obtained 
by  that  traveller  from  the  collection  of  the  unfortunate  Boturini ;  if, 
as  seems  probable,  it  is  the  one  indicated  on  page  13  of  his  Catalogue, 
I  find  no  warrant  for  Mr.  Bullock's  statement  that  it  was  the  one  pre 
pared  for  Cortes  by  the  order  of  Montezuma. 


24  VE  YTIA. 

resemblance  to  that  of  the  ancient  Romans,  not  only 
in  their  military  successes,  but  in  the  policy  which  led 
to  them.27 

*7  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  lib.  2. — Torquemada,  Mo 
narch.  Ind.,  torn.  i.  lib.  2. — Boturini,  Idea,  p.  146. — Col.  of  Mendoza, 
Part  i,  and  Codex  Telleriano-Remensis,  apud  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vols. 
i.,  vi. — Machiavelli  has  noticed  it  as  one  great  cause  of  the  military 
successes  of  the  Romans,  "  that  they  associated  themselves,  in  their 
wars,  with  other  states,  as  the  principal,"  and  expresses  his  aston 
ishment  that  a  similar  policy  should  not  have  been  adopted  by  ambi 
tious  republics  in  later  times.  (See  his  Discorsi  sopra  T.  Livio,  lib.  2, 
cap.  4,  apud  Opere  (Geneva,  1798).)  This,  as  we  have  seen  above,  was 
the  very  course  pursued  by  the  Mexicans. 


The  most  important  contribution,  of  late  years,  to  the  early  history 
of  Mexico  is  the  Historia  antigua  of  the  Lie.  Don.  Mariano  Veytia, 
published  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  in  1836.  This  scholar  was  born  of 
an  ancient  and  highly  respectable  family  at  Puebla,  1718.  After  finish 
ing  his  academic  education,  he  went  to  Spain,  where  he  was  kindly 
received  at  court.  He  afterwards  visited  several  other  countries  of 
Europe,  made  himself  acquainted  with  their  languages,  and  returned 
home  well  stored  with  the  fruits  of  a  discriminating  observation  and 
diligent  study.  The  rest  of  his  life  he  devoted  to  letters ;  especially 
to  the  illustration  of  the  national  history  and  antiquities.  As  the 
executor  of  the  unfortunate  Boturini,  with  whom  he  had  contracted  an 
intimacy  in  Madrid,  he  obtained  access  to  his  valuable  collection  of 
manuscripts  in  Mexico,  and  from  them,  and  every  other  source  which 
his  position  in  society  and  his  eminent  character  opened  to  him,  he 
composed  various  works,  none  of  which,  however,  except  the  one 
before  us,  has  been  admitted  to  the  honors  of  the  press.  The  time 
of  his  death  is  not  given  by  his  editor,  but  it  was  probably  not  later 
than  1780. 

Veytia's  history  covers  the  whole  period  from  the  first  occupation 
of  Anahuac  to  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  at  which  point  his 
labors  were  unfortunately  terminated  by  his  death.  In  the  early  portion 
he  has  endeavored  to  trace  the  migratory  movements  and  historical 
annals  of  the  principal  races  who  entered  the  country.  Every  page 
bears  testimony  to  the  extent  and  fidelity  of  his  researches  ;  and,  if  we 


VEYTIA.  25 

feel  but  moderate  confidence  in  the  results,  the  fault  is  not  imputable 
to  him,  so  much  as  to  the  dark  and  doubtful  nature  of  the  subject. 
As  he  descends  to  later  ages,  he  is  morei  occupied  with  the  fortunes 
of  the  Tezcucan  than  with  those  of  the  Aztec  dynasty,  which  have 
been  amply  discussed  by  others  of  his  countrymen.  The  premature 
close  of  his  labors  prevented  him,  probably,  from  giving  that  atten 
tion  to  the  domestic  institutions  of  the  people  he  describes,  to  which 
they  are  entitled  as  the  most  important  subject  of  inquiry  to  the  his 
torian.  The  deficiency  has  been  supplied  by  his  judicious  editor, 
Orteaga,  from  other  sources.  In  the  early  part  of  his  work,  Vcytia 
has  explained  the  chronological  system  of  the  Aztecs,  but,  like  most 
writers  preceding  the  accurate  Gama,  with  indifferent  success.  As  a 
critic,  he  certainly  ranks  much  higher  than  the  annalists  who  pre 
ceded  him,  and,  when  his  own  religion  is  not  involved,  shows  a  dis 
criminating  judgment.  When  it  is,  he  betrays  a  full  measure  of  the 
credulity  which  still  maintains  its  hold  on  too  many  even  of  the  well- 
informed  of  his  countrymen.  The  editor  of  the  work  has  given  a 
very  interesting  letter  from  the  Abbe  Clavigero  to  Veytia,  written 
when  the  former  was  a  poor  and  humble  exile,  and  in  the  tone  of 
one  addressing  a  person  of  high  standing  and  literary  eminence. 
Both  were  employed  on  the  same  subject.  The  writings  of  the  poor 
abbe,  published  again  and  again,  and  translated  into  various  lan 
guages,  have  spread  his  fame  throughout  Europe ;  while  the  name 
of  Veytia,  whose  works  have  been  locked  up  in  their  primitive  manu 
script,  is  scarcely  known  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Mexico. 


CHAPTER   II. 

SUCCESSION  TO  THE  CROWN. AZTEC  NOBILITY. JUDI 
CIAL  SYSTEM. LAWS  AND  REVENUES. MILITARY  IN 
STITUTIONS. 

THE  form  of  government  differed  in  the  different 
states  of  Anahuae.  With  the  Aztecs  and  Tezcucans  it 
was  monarchical  and  nearly  absolute.  The  two  nations 
resembled  each  other  so  much  in  their  political  insti 
tutions  that  one  of  their  historians  has  remarked,  in 
too  unqualified  a  manner  indeed,  that  what  is  told  of 
one  may  be  always  understood  as  applying  to  the 
other.1  I  shall  direct  my  inquiries  to  the  Mexican 
polity,  borrowing  an  illustration  occasionally  from  that 
of  the  rival  kingdom. 

The  government  was  an  elective  monarchy.  Four 
of  the  principal  nobles,  who  had  been  chosen  by  their 
own  body  in  the  preceding  reign,  filled  the  office  of 
electors,  to  whom  were  added,  with  merely  an  honorary 
rank,  however,  the  two  royal  allies  of  Tezcuco  and 
Tlacopan.  The  sovereign  was  selected  from  the  brothers 
of  the  deceased  prince,  or,  in  default  of  them,  from  his 
nephews.  Thus  the  election  was  always  restricted  to 
the  same  family.  The  candidate  preferred  must  have 
distinguished  himself  in  war,  though,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  last  Montezuma,  he  were  a  member  of  the  priest 
hood.2  This  singular  mode  of  supplying  the  throne 

1  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36. 

8  This  was  an  exception. — In  Egypt,  also,  the  king  was  frequency 
26 


SUCCESSION    TO    THE    CROWN.  27 

had  some  advantages.  The  candidates  received  an 
education  which  fitted  them  for  the  royal  dignity, 
while  the  age  at  which  they  were  chosen  not  only 
secured  the  nation  against  the  evils  of  minority,  but 
afforded  ample  means  for  estimating  their  qualifications 
for  the  office.  The  result,  at  all  events,  was  favorable ; 
since  the  throne,  as  already  noticed,  was  filled  by  a 
succession  of  able  princes,  well  qualified  to  rule  over  a 
warlike  and  ambitious  people.  The  scheme  of  elec 
tion,  however  defective,  argues  a  more  refined  and  cal 
culating  policy  than  was  to  have  been  expected  from  a 
barbarous  nation.3 

The  new  monarch  was  installed  in  his  regal  dignity 
with  much  parade  of  religious  ceremony,  but  not  until, 
by  a  victorious  campaign,  he  had  obtained  a  sufficient 
number  of  captives  to  grace  his  triumphal  entry  into 
the  capital  and  to  furnish  victims  for  the  dark  and 
bloody  rites  which  stained  the  Aztec  superstition. 
Amidst  this  pomp  of  human  sacrifice  he  was  crowned. 
The  crown,  resembling  a  mitre  in  its  form,  and  curiously 
ornamented  with  gold,  gems,  and  feathers,  was  placed 
on  his  head  by  the  lord  of  Tezcuco,  the  most  powerful 
of  his  royal  allies.  The  title  of  King,  by  which  the 

taken  from  the  warrior  caste,  though  obliged  afterwards  to  be  in 
structed  in  the  mysteries  of  the  priesthood  :  6  fie  C'K  v.a.\ip.<*v  <i»ro6e- 
&ttynei>o<;  cvdv-;  tyivero  Tu.y  ie'pwf.  Plutarch,  de  Isid.  et  Osir.,  sec.  9. 

3  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  18  ;  lib.  n,  cap.  27. — 
Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  112. — Acosta,  Naturall  and 
Morall  Historie  of  the  East  and  West  Indies,  Eng.  trans.  (London, 
1604). — According  to  Zurita,  an  election  by  the  nobles  took  place  only 
in  default  of  heirs  of  the  deceased  monarch.  (Rapport,  p.  15.)  The 
minute  historical  investigation  of  Clavigero  may  be  permitted  to  out 
weigh  this  general  assertion. 


28  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

earlier  Aztec  princes  are  distinguished  by  Spanish 
writers,  is  supplanted  by  that  of  Emperor  in  the  later 
reigns,  intimating,  perhaps,  his  superiority  over  the 
confederated  monarchies  of  Tlacopan  and  Tezcuco.4 

The  Aztec  princes,  especially  towards  the  close  of 
the  dynasty,  lived  in  a  barbaric  pomp,  truly  Oriental. 
Their  spacious  palaces  were  provided  with  halls  for  the 
different  councils  who  aided  the  monarch  in  the  transac 
tion  of  business.  The  chief  of  these  was  a  sort  of  privy 
council,  composed  in  part,  probably,  of  the  four  electors 
chosen  by  the  nobles  after  the  accession,  whose  places, 
when  made  vacant  by  death,  were  immediately  supplied 
as  before.  It  was  the  business  of  this  body,  so  far  as 
can  be  gathered  from  the  very  loose  accounts  given  of 
it,  to  advise  the  king,  in  respect  to  the  government  of 
the  provinces,  the  administration  of  the  revenues,  and, 
indeed,  on  all  great  matters  of  public  interest.5 

In  the  royal  buildings  were  accommodations,  also, 
for  a  numerous  body-guard  of  the  sovereign,  made  up 
of  the  chief  nobility.  It  is  not  easy  to  determine  with 
precision,  in  these  barbarian  governments,  the  limits  of 
the  several  orders.  It  is  certain  there  was  a  distinct 
class  of  nobles,  with  large  landed  possessions,  who  held 
the  most  important  offices  near  the  person  of  the  prince, 

4  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  9, 10, 14;  lib.  8,  cap. 
31,  34. — See,  also,  Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  20-23. — Ixtlilxochitl  stoutly 
claims  this  supremacy  for  his  own  nation.   (Hist.  Chich.,  MS,,  cap.  34.) 
His  assertions  are  at  variance  with  facts  stated  by  himself  elsewhere, 
and  are  not  countenanced  by  any  other  writer  whom  I  have  consulted. 

5  Sahagun,  who  places  the  elective  power  in  a  much  larger  body, 
speaks  of  four  senators,  who  formed  a  state  council.    (Hist,  de  Nueva- 
Espana,  lib.  8,  cap.  30.)     Acosta  enlarges  the  council  beyond  the 
number  of  the  electors.     (Lib.  6,  ch.  26.)     No  two  writers  agree. 


AZTEC   NOBILITY.  29 

and  engrossed  the  administration  of  the  provinces 
and  cities.6  Many  of  these  could  trace  their  descent 
from  the  founders  of  the  Aztec  monarchy.  According 
to  some  writers  of  authority,  there  were  thirty  great 
caciques,  who  had  their  residence,  at  least  a  part  of  the 
year,  in  the  capital,  and  who  could  muster  a  hundred 
thousand  vassals  each  on  their  estates.7  Without  rely 
ing  on  such  wild  statements,  it  is  clear,  from  the  testi 
mony  of  the  Conquerors,  that  the  country  was  occupied 
by  numerous  powerful  chieftains,  who  lived  like  inde 
pendent  princes  on  their  domains.  If  it  be  true  that 
the  kings  encouraged,  or,  indeed,  exacted,  the  residence 
of  these  nobles  in  the  capital,  and  required  hostages  in 
their  absence,  it  is  evident  that  their  power  must  have 
been  very  formidable.8 

Their  estates  appear  to  have  been  held  by  various 
tenures,  and  to  have  been  subject  to  different  restric 
tions.  Some  of  them,  earned  by  their  own  good  swords 
or  received  as  the  recompense  of  public  services,  were 
held  without  any  limitation,  except  that  the  possessors 

6  Zurita  enumerates  four  orders  of  chiefs,  all  of  whom  were  ex 
empted  from  imposts  and  enjoyed  very  considerable  privileges.      He 
does  not  discriminate  the  several  ranks  with  much  precision.     Rap 
port,  p.  47,  et  seq. 

7  See,  in  particular,  Herrera,  Historia  general  de  los  Hechos  de  los 
Castellanos  en  las  Islas  y  Tierra  firme  del  Mar  Oceano   (Madrid, 
1730),  dec.  2,  lib.  8,  cap.  12. 

8  Carta  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Kspana,  p.  no. — 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  89;  lib.  14,  cap.  6. — Clavi- 
gero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  121. — Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  48,  65. — 
Ixtlilxochitl  (Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  34)  speaks  of  thirty  great  feudal 
chiefs,  some  of  them  Tezcucan  and  Tlacopan,  whom  he  styles  "  gran 
dees  of  the  empire"  !      He  says  nothing  of  the  great  tail  of  100,000 
vassals  to  each,  mentioned  by  Torquemada  and  Herrera. 

3* 


3o  AZTEC   CIVILIZATION-. 

could  not  dispose  of  them  to  a  plebeian.9  Others  were 
entailed  on  the  eldest  male  issue,  and,  in  default  of 
such,  reverted  to  the  crown.  Most  of  them  seem  to 
have  been  burdened  with  the  obligation  of  military 
service.  The  principal  chiefs  of  Tezcuco,  according 
to  its  chronicler,  were  expressly  obliged  to  support 
their  prince  with  their  armed  vassals,  to  attend  his 
court,  and  aid  him  in  the  council.  Some,  instead  of 
these  services,  were  to  provide  for  the  repairs  of  his 
buildings,  and  to  keep  the  royal  demesnes  in  order, 
with  an  annual  offering,  by  way  of  homage,  of  fruits 
and  flowers.  It  was  usual,  if  we  are  to  believe  histo 
rians,  for  a  new  king,  on  his  accession,  to  confirm  the 
investiture  of  estates  derived  from  the  crown.10 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  we  recognize,  in  all  this, 
several  features  of  the  feudal  system,  which,  no  doubt, 
lose  nothing  of  their  effect  under  the  hands  of  the 
Spanish  writers,  who  are  fond  of  tracing  analogies  to 
European  institutions.  But  such  analogies  lead  some 
times  to  very  erroneous  conclusions.  The  obligation 
of  military  service,  for  instance,  the  most  essential 
principle  of  a  fief,  seems  to  be  naturally  demanded  by 

9  Macehual, — a  word  equivalent  to  the  French  word  roturier.    Nor 
could  fiefs  originally  be  held  by  plebeians  in  France.     See  Hallam's 
Middle  Ages  (London,  1819),  vol.  ii.  p.  207. 

10  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  ubi  supra. — Zurita,  Rapport,  ubi 
supra. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  122-124. — Torque- 
mada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  14,  cap.  7. — Gomara,  Cronica  de  Nueva- 
Espana,  cap.  199,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. — Boturini  (Idea,  p,  165)  carries 
back  the  origin  of  fiefs  in  Anahuac  to  the  twelfth  century.     Carli  says, 
"  Le  system?  politique  y  etoit  feodal."     In  the  next  page  he  tells  us, 
"  Personal  merit  alone  made  the  distinction  of  the  nobility"  !     (Let- 
tres  Americaines,  trad.  Fr.  (Paris,  1788),  torn.  i.  let.  n.)     Carli  was 
a  writer  of  a  lively  imagination. 


JUDICIAL    SYSTEM.  31 

every  government  from  its  subjects.  As  to  minor 
points  of  resemblance,  they  fall  far  short  of  that  har 
monious  system  of  reciprocal  service  and  protection 
which  embraced,  in  nice  gradation,  every  order  of  a 
feudal  monarchy.  The  kingdoms  of  Anahuac  were  in 
their  nature  despotic,  attended,  indeed,  with  many  miti 
gating  circumstances  unknown  to  the  despotisms  of  the 
East ;  but  it  is  chimerical  to  look  for  much  in  common 
— beyond  a  few  accidental  forms  and  ceremonies — 
with  those  aristocratic  institutions' of  the  Middle  Ages 
which  made  the  court  of  every  petty  baron  the  precise 
image  in  miniature  of  that  of  his  sovereign. 

The  legislative  power,  both  in  Mexico  and  Tezcuco, 
resided  wholly  with  the  monarch.  This  feature  of 
despotism,  however,  was  in  some  measure  counteracted 
by  the  constitution  of  the  judicial  tribunals, — of  more 
importance,  among  a  rude  people,  than  the  legislative, 
since  it  is  easier  to-  make  good  laws  for  such  a  com 
munity  than  to  enforce  them,  and  the  best  laws,  badly 
administered,  are  but  a  mockery.  Over  each  of  the 
principal  cities,  with  its  dependent  territories,  was 
placed  a  supreme  judge,  appointed  by  the  crown,  with 
original  and  final  jurisdiction  in  both  civil  and  criminal 
cases.  There  was  no  appeal  from  his  sentence  to  any 
other  tribunal,  nor  even  to  the  king.  He  held  his 
office  during  life  ;  and  any  one  who  usurped  his  ensigns 
was  punished  with  death." 


11  This  magistrate,  who  was  called  cihuacoatl*  was  also  to  audit  the 
*  [This  word,  a  compound  of  cihuatl,  woman,  and  coat  I,  serpent, 

was  the  name  of  a  divinity,  the  mythical  mother  of  the  human  species. 

Its  typical  application  may  have  had  reference  to  justice,  or  law,  as 

the  source  of  social  order. — ED.] 


32 


AZTEC    CIVILIZATION'. 


Below  this  magistrate  was  a  court,  established  in  each 
province,  and  consisting  of  three  members.  It  held 
concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  supreme  judge  in  civil 
suits,  but  in  criminal  an  appeal  lay  to  his  tribunal. 
Besides  these  courts,  there  was  a  body  of  inferior  magis 
trates,  distributed  through  the  country,  chosen  by  the 
people  themselves  in  their  several  districts.  Their  au 
thority  was  limited  to  smaller  causes,  while  the  more 
important  were  carried  up  to  the  higher  courts.  There 
was  still  another  class  of  subordinate  officers,  appointed 
also  by  the  people,  each  of  whom  was  to  watch  over  the 
conduct  of  a  certain  number  of  families  and  report  any 
disorder  or  breach  of  the  laws  to  the  higher  authorities." 

In  Tezcuco  the  judicial  arrangements  were  of  a 
more  refined  character ; I3  and  a  gradation  of  tribunals 
finally  terminated  in  a  general  meeting  or  parliament, 

accounts  of  the  collectors  of  the  taxes  in  his  district.  (Clavigero,  Slor. 
del  Messico,  tom.ii.  p.  127. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  n,  cap. 
25.)  The  Mendoza  Collection  contains  a  painting  of  the  courts  of 
justice  under  Montezuma,  who  introduced  great  changes  in  them. 
(Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  Plate  70.)  According  to  the  interpreter, 
an  appeal  lay  from  them,  in  certain  cases,  to  the  king's  council. 
Ibid.,  vol.  vi.  p.  79. 

12  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  127,  128. — Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  ubi  supra. — In  this  arrangement  of  the  more  humble 
magistrates  we  are  reminded  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  hundreds  and 
tithings,  especially  the  latter,  the  members  of  which  were  to  watch 
over  the  conduct  of  the  families  in  their  districts  and  bring  the 
offenders  to  justice.  The  hard  penalty  of  mutual  responsibility  was 
riot  known  to  the  Mexicans. 

J3  Zurita,  so  temperate,  usually,  in  his  language,  remarks  that,  :n  the 
capital,  "Tribunals  were  instituted  which  might  compare  in  their 
organization  with  the  royal  audiences  of  Castile."  (Rapport,  p.  93.) 
His  observations  are  chiefly  drawn  from  the  Tezcucan  courts,  which 
in  their  forms  of  procedure,  he  says,  were  like  the  Aztec.  (Loc.  cit.) 


JUDICIAL    SYSTEM.  33 

consisting  of  all  the  judges,  great  and  petty,  through 
out  the  kingdom,  held  every  eighty  days  in  the  capital, 
over  which  the  king  presided  in  person.  This  body 
determined  all  suits  which,  from  their  importance  or 
difficulty,  had  been  reserved  for  its  consideration  by 
the  lower  tribunals.  It  served,  moreover,  as  a  council 
of  state,  to  assist  the  monarch  in  the  transaction  of 
public  business.14 

Such  are  the  vague  and  imperfect  notices  that  can  be 
gleaned,  respecting  the  Aztec  tribunals,  from  the  hiero- 
glyphical  paintings  still  preserved,  and  from  the  most 
accredited  Spanish  writers.  These,  being  usually  eccle 
siastics,  have  taken  much  less  interest  in  this  subject 
than  in  matters  connected  with  religion.  They  find 
some  apology,  certainly,  in  the  early  destruction  of 
most  of  the  Indian  paintings,  from  which  their  infor 
mation  was,  in  part,  to  be  gathered. 

On  the  whole,  however,  it  must  be  inferred  that 
the  Aztecs  were  sufficiently  civilized  to  evince  a  solici 
tude  for  the  rights  both  of  property  and  of  persons. 
The  law,  authorizing  an  appeal  to  the  highest  judica 
ture  in  criminal  matters  only,  shows  an  attention  to 
personal  security,  rendered  the  more  obligatory  by  the 
extreme  severity  of  their  penal  code,  which  would 
naturally  have  made  them  more  cautious  of  a  wrong 

J4  Boturini,  Idea,  p.  87. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  IncL,  lib.  n,  cap. 
26. — Zurita  compares  this  body  to  the  Castilian  cortes.  It  would  seem, 
however,  according  to  him,  to  have  consisted  only  of  twelve  principal 
judges,  besides  the  king.  His  meaning  is  somewhat  doubtful.  ( Rap 
port,  pp.  94, 101,  106.)  M.  de  Humboldt,  in  his  account  of  the  Aztec 
courts,  has  confounded  them  with  the  Tezcucan.  Comp.  Vues  des 
Cordilleres  et  Monumens  des  Peuples  indigenes  de  1'Amerique  (Paris, 
1810),  p.  55,  and  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  128,  129. 
VOL.  I.— c 


34 


AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 


conviction.  The  existence  of  a  number  of  co-ordinate 
tribunals,  without  a  central  one  of  supreme  authority 
to  control  the  whole,  must  have  given  rise  to  very  dis 
cordant  interpretations  of  the  law  in  different  districts. 
But  this  is  an  evil  which  they  shared  in  common  with 
most  of  the  nations  of  Europe. 

The  provision  for  making  the  superior  judges  wholly 
independent  of  the  crown  was  worthy  of  an  enlight 
ened  people.  It  presented  the  strongest  barrier  that  a 
mere  constitution  could  afford  against  tyranny.  It  is 
not,  indeed,  to  be  supposed  that,  in  a  government 
otherwise  so  despotic,  means  could  not  be  found  for 
influencing  the  magistrate.  But  it  was  a  great  step  to 
fence  round  his  authority  with  the  sanction  of  the  law ; 
and  no  one  of  the  Aztec  monarchs,  so  far  as  I  know,  is 
accused  of  an  attempt  to  violate  it. 

To  receive  presents  or  a  bribe,  to  be  guilty  of  collu 
sion  in  any  way  with  a  suitor,  was  punished,  in  a  judge, 
with  death.  Who,  or  what  tribunal,  decided  as  to  his 
guilt,  does  not  appear.  In  Tezcuco  this  was  done  by 
the  rest  of  the  court.  But  the  king  presided  over  that 
body.  The  Tezcucan  prince  Nezahualpilli-,  who  rarely 
tempered  justice  with  mercy,  put  one  judge  to  death 
for  taking  a  bribe,  and  another  for  determining  suits 
in  his  own  house, — a  capital  offence,  also,  by  law.13 

The  judges  of  the  higher  tribunals  were  maintained 
from  the  produce  of  a  part  of  the  crown  lands,  reserved 
for  this  purpose.  They,  as  well  as  the  supreme  judge, 

'S  "  If  this  should  be  done  now,  what  an  excellent  thing  it  would 
be!"  exclaims  Sahagun's  Mexican  editor.  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana, 
torn.  ii.  p.  304,  nota. — Zurita,  Rapport,  p.  102. — Torquemada,  Mo 
narch.  Ind.,  ubi  supra.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  67. 


JUDICIAL    SYSTEM.  35 

held  their  offices  for  life.  The  proceedings  in  the 
courts  were  conducted  with  decency  and  order.  The 
judges  wore  an  appropriate  dress,  and  attended  to 
business  both  parts  of  the  day,  dining  always,  for  the 
sake  of  despatch,  in  an  apartment  of  the  same  building 
where  they  held  their  session  ;  a  method  of  proceeding 
much  commended  by  the  Spanish  chroniclers,  to  whom 
despatch  was  not  very  familiar  in  their  own  tribunals. 
Officers  attended  to  preserve  order,  and  others  sum 
moned  the  parties  and  produced  them  in  court.  No 
counsel  was  employed ;  the  parties  stated  their  own 
case  and  supported  it  by  their  witnesses.  The  oath  of 
the  accused  was  also  admitted  in  evidence.  The  state 
ment  of  the  case,  the  testimony,  and  the  proceedings 
of  the  trial  were  all  set  forth  by  a  clerk,  in  hieroglyph- 
ical  paintings,  and  handed  over  to  the  court.  The 
paintings  were  executed  with  so  much  accuracy  that  in 
all  suits  respecting  real  property  they  were  allowed  to 
be  produced  as  good  authority  in  the  Spanish  tribunals, 
very  long  after  the  Conquest ;  and  a  chair  for  their 
study  and  interpretation  was  established  at  Mexico  in 
1553,  which  has  long  since  shared  the  fate  of  most  other 
provisions  for  learning  in  that  unfortunate  country.16 

A  capital  sentence  was  indicated  by  a  line  traced 
with  an  arrow  across  the  portrait  of  the  accused.  In 
Tezcuco,  where  the  king  presided  in  the  court,  this, 
according  to  the  national  chronicler,  was  done  with 

16  Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  95,  100,  103. — Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva- 
Espana,  loc.  cit. — Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  pp.  55,  56.— 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  n,  cap.  25. — Clavigero  says  the 
accused  might  free  himself  by  oath:  "  il  reo  poteva  purgarsS  col 
giuramento."  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  129.;  What  rogue, 
then,  could  ever  have  been  convicted? 


3 6  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

extraordinary  parade.  His  description,  which  is  of 
rather  a  poetical  cast,  I  give  in  his  own  words.  "In 
the  royal  palace  of  Tezcuco  was  a  court-yard,  on  the 
opposite  sides  of  which  were  two  halls  of  justice.  In 
the  principal  one,  called  the  'tribunal  of  God,'  was  a 
throne  of  pure  gold,  inlaid  with  turquoises  and  other 
precious  stones.  On  a  stool  in  front  was  placed  a 
human  skull,  crowned  with  an  immense  emerald  of  a 
pyramidal  form,  and  surmounted  by  an  aigrette  of  bril 
liant  plumes  and  precious  stones.  The  skull  was  laid 
on  a  heap  of  military  weapons,  shields,  quivers,  bows, 
and  arrows.  The  walls  were  hung  with  tapestry,  made 
of  the  hair  of  different  wild  animals,  of  rich  and  vari 
ous  colors,  festooned  by  gold  rings  and  embroidered 
with  figures  of  birds  and  flowers.  Above  the  throne 
was  a  canopy  of  variegated  plumage,  from  the  centre  of 
which  shot  forth  resplendent  rays  of  gold  and  jewels. 
The  other  tribunal,  called  '  the  King's,'  was  also  sur 
mounted  by  a  gorgeous  canopy  of  feathers,  on  which 
were  emblazoned  the  royal  arms.  Here  the  sovereign 
gave  public  audience  and  communicated  his  despatches. 
But  when  he  decided  important  causes,  or  confirmed  a 
capital  sentence,  he  passed  to  the  'tribunal  of  God,' 
attended  by  the  fourteen  great  lords  of  the  realm, 
marshalled  according  to  their  rank.  Then,  putting 
on  his  mitred  crown,  incrusted  with  precious  stones, 
and  holding  a  golden  arrow,  by  way  of  sceptre,  in  his 
left  hand,  he  laid  his  right  upon  the  skull,  and  pro 
nounced  judgment."17  All  this  looks  rather  fine  for 
a  court  of  justice,  it  must  be  owned.  But  it  is  certain 

X7  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36. — These  various  objects 
had  a  symbolical  meaning,  according  to  Boturini,  Idea,  p.  84, 


LAWS   AND    REVENUES. 


37 


that  the  Tezcucans,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  possessed 
both  the  materials  and  the  skill  requisite  to  work  them 
up  in  this  manner.  Had  they  been  a  little  further  ad 
vanced  in  refinement,  one  might  well  doubt  their  having 
the  bad  taste  to  do  so. 

The  laws  of  the  Aztecs  were  registered,  and  exhib 
ited  to  the  people,  in  their  hieroglyphical  paintings. 
Much  the  larger  part  of  them,  as  in  every  nation 
imperfectly  civilized,  relates  rather  to  the  security  of 
persons  than  of  property.  The  great  crimes  against 
society  were  all  made  capital.  Even  the  murder  of  a 
slave  was  punished  with  death.  Adulterers,  as  among 
the  Jews,  were  stoned  to  death.  Thieving,  according 
to  the  degree  of  the  offence,  was  punished  by  slavery 
or  death.  Yet  the  Mexicans  could  have  been  under 
no  great  apprehension  of  this  crime,  since  the  entrances 
to  their  dwellings  were  not  secured  by  bolts  or  fasten 
ings  of  any  kind.  It  was  a  capital  offence  to  remove 
the  boundaries  of  another's  lands ;  to  alter  the  estab 
lished  measures ;  and  for  a  guardian  not  to  be  able  to 
give  a  good  account  of  his  ward's  property.  These 
regulations  evince  a  regard  for  equity  in  dealings,  and 
for  private  rights,  which  argues  a  considerable  progress 
in  civilization.  Prodigals,  who  squandered  their  pat 
rimony,  were  punished  in  like  manner ;  a  severe  sen- ' 
tence,  since  the  crime  brought  its  adequate  punishment 
along  with  it.  Intemperance,  which  was  the  burden, 
moreover,  of  their  religious  homilies,  was  visited  with 
the  severest  penalties ;  as  if  they  had  foreseen  in  it  the 
consuming  canker  of  their  own  as  well  as  of  the  other 
Indian  races  in  later  times.  It  was  punished  in  the 
young  with  death,  and  in  older  persons  with  loss  of 
VOL.  I.— 4 


38  AZTEC  CIVILIZATION: 

rank  and  confiscation  of  property.  Yet  a  decent  con 
viviality  was  not  meant  to  be  proscribed  at  their  fes 
tivals,  and  they  possessed  the  means  of  indulging  it,  in 
a  mild  fermented  liquor,  called  pulque,  which  is  still 
popular,  not  only  with  the  Indian,  but  the  European 
population  of  the  country.18 

The  rites  of  marriage  were  celebrated  with  as  much 
formality  as  in  any  Christian  country ;  and  the  insti 
tution  was  held  in  such  reverence  that  a  tribunal  was 
instituted  for  the  sole  purpose  of  determining  questions 
relating  to  it.  Divorces  could  not  be  obtained  until 
authorized  by  a  sentence  of  this  court,  after  a  patient 
hearing  of  the  parties. 

But  the  most  remarkable  part  of  the  Aztec  code  was 
that  relating  to  slavery.  There  were  several  descrip 
tions  of  slaves  :  prisoners  taken  in  war,  who  were  almost 
always  reserved  for  the  dreadful  doom  of  sacrifice ; 
criminals,  public  debtors,  persons  who,  from  extreme 
poverty,  voluntarily  resigned  their  freedom,  and  chil 
dren  who  were  sold  by  their  own  parents.  In  the  last 
instance,  usually  occasioned  also  by  poverty,  it  was 

18  Paintings  of  the  Mendoza  Collection,  PI.  72,  and  Interpretation, 
ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  87. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind., 
lib.  12,  cap.  7. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  130-134. — 
Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — They  could  scarcely  have  been  an 
intemperate  people,  with  these  heavy  penalties  hanging  over  them. 
Indeed,  Zurita  bears  testimony  that  those  Spaniards  who  thought 
they  were  greatly  erred.  (Rapport,  p.  112.)  M.  Ternaux's  translation 
of  a  passage  of  the  Anonymous  Conqueror,  "  aucun  penple  n'est 
aussi  sobre"  (Recueil  de  Pieces  relatives  a  la  Conquete  du  Mexique, 
ap.  Voyages,  etc.  ^  Paris,  1838),  p.  54),  may  give  a  more  favorable  im 
pression,  however,  than  that  intended  by  his  original,  whose  remark 
is  confined  to  abstemiousness  in  eating.  See  the  Relatione,  ap.  Ra- 
musio,  Raccolta  delle  Navigation!  et  Viaggi  (Venetia,  1554-1565). 


LAWS   AND    REVENUES. 


39 


common  for  the  parents,  with  the  master's  consent,  to 
substitute  others  of  their  children  successively,  as  they 
grew  up ;  thus  distributing  the  burden  as  equally  as 
possible  among  the  different  members  of  the  family. 
The  willingness  of  freemen  to  incur  the  penalties  of 
this  condition  is  explained  by  the  mild  form  in  which 
it  existed.  The  contract  of  sale  was  executed  in  the 
presence  of  at  least  four  witnesses.  The  services  to  be 
exacted  were  limited  with  great  precision.  The  slave 
was  allowed  to  have  his  own  family,  to  hold  property, 
and  even  other  slaves.  His  children  were  free.  No 
one  could  be  born  to  slavery  in  Mexico  ; I9  an  honorable 
distinction,  not  known,  I  believe,  in  any  civilized  com 
munity  where  slavery  has  been  sanctioned. "°  Slaves  were 
not  sold  by  their  masters,  unless  when  these  were  driven 
to  it  by  poverty.  They  were  often  liberated  by  them  at 
their  death,  and  sometimes,  as  there  was  no  natural  re 
pugnance  founded  on  difference  of  blood  and  race,  were 
married  to  them.  Yet  a  refractory  or  vicious  slave  might 
be  led  into  the  market,  with  a  collar  round  his  neck, 
which  intimated  his  bad  character,  and  there  be  publicly 
sold,  and,  on  a  second  sale,  reserved  for  sacrifice.21 

'9  In  ancient  Egypt  the  child  of  a  slave  was  born  free,  if  the  father 
were  free.  (Diodorus,  Bibl.  Hist.,  lib.  i,  sec.  80.)  This,  though  more 
liberal  than  the  code  of  most  countries,  fell  short  of  the  Mexican. 

20  In  Egypt  the  same  penalty  was  attached  to  the  murder  of  a  slave 
as  to  that  of  a  freeman.  (Ibid.,  lib.  i,  sec.  77.)  Robertson  speaks  of 
a  class  of  slaves  held  so  cheap  in  the  eye  of  the  Mexican  law  that  one 
might  kill  them  with  impunity.  (History  of  America  (cd.  London, 
1776),  vol.  iii.  p.  164.)  This,  however,  was  not  in  Mexico,  but  in 
Nicaragua  (see  his  own  authority,  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib. 
4,  cap.  2),  a  distant  country,  not  incorporated  in  the  Mexican  empire, 
and  with  laws  and  institutions  very  different  from  those  of  the  latter. 

«  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  12,  cap.  15  ;  lib.  14,  cap.  16,  17. 


40  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

Such  are  some  of  the  most  striking  features  of  the 
Aztec  code,  to  which  the  Tezcucan  bore  great  resem 
blance.22  With  some  exceptions,  it  is  stamped  with  the 
severity,  the  ferocity  indeed,  of  a  rude  people,  hard 
ened  by  familiarity  with  scenes  of  blood,  and  relying 
on  physical  instead  of  moral  means  for  the  correction 
of  evil.23  Still,  it  evinces  a  profound  respect,  for  the  great 
principles  of  morality,  and  as  clear  a  perception  of  these 
principles  as  is  to  be  found  in  the  most  cultivated  nations. 

The  royal  revenues  were  derived  from  various  sources. 
The  crown  lands,  which  appear  to  have  been  extensive, 
made  their  returns  in  kind.  The  places  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  the  capital  were  bound  to  supply  workmen 
and  materials  for  building  the  king's  palaces  and 
keeping  them  in  repair.  They  were  also  to  furnish 
fuel,  provisions,  and  whatever  was  necessary  for  his 
ordinary  domestic  expenditure,  which  was  certainly  on 
no  stinted  scale.24  The  principal  cities,  which  had 

— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  8,  cap.  14. — Clavigero,  Stor. 
del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  134-136. 

22Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  38,  and  Relaciones,  MS.— 
The  Tezcucan  code,  indeed,  as  digested  under  the  great  Nezahual- 
coyotl,  formed  the  basis  of  the  Mexican,  in  the  latter  days  of  the 
empire.  Zurita,  Rapport,  p.  95. 

23  In  this,  at  least,  they  did  not  resemble  the  Romans  ;  of  whom  their 
countryman  could  boast,  "  Gloriari  licet,  nulli  gentium  mitiores  pla- 
cuisse  posnas."     Livy,  Hist.,  lib.  i,  cap.  28. 

24  The  Tezcucan  revenues  were,  in  like  manner,  paid  in  the  produce 
of  the  country.     The  various  branches  of  the  royal  expenditure  were 
defrayed  by  specified  towns  and  districts  ;  and  the  whole  arrangements 
here,  and  in  Mexico,  bore  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  the  financial 
regulations  of  the  Persian  empire,  as  reported  by  the  Greek  writers 
(see  Herodotus,  Clio,  sec.  192) ;  with  this  difference,  however,  that  the 
towns  of  Persia  proper  were  not  burdened  with  tributes,  like  the 
conquered  cities.     Idem,  Thalia,  sec.  97. 


LAWS   AND    REVENUES.  4I 

numerous  villages  and  a  large  territory  dependent  on 
them,  were  distributed  into  districts,  with  each  a  share 
of  the  lands  allotted  to  it,  for  its  support.  The  inhab 
itants  paid  a  stipulated  part  of  the  produce  to  the  crown. 
The  vassals  of  the  great  chiefs,  also,  paid  a  portion  of 
their  earnings  into  the  public  treasury ;  an  arrangement 
not  at  all  in  the  spirit  of  the  feudal  institutions.25 

In  addition  to  this  tax  on  all  the  agricultural  produce 
of  the  kingdom,  there  was  another  on  its  manufactures. 
The  nature  and  the  variety  of  the  tributes  will  be  best 
shown  by  an  enumeration  of  some  of  the  principal 
articles.  These  were  cotton  dresses,  and  mantles  of 
feather-work  exquisitely  made ;  ornamented  armor ; 
vases  and  plates  of  gold ;  gold  dust,  bands  and  brace 
lets  ;  crystal,  gilt,  and  varnished  jars  and  goblets ; 
bells,  arms,  and  utensils  of  copper;  reams  of  paper; 
grain,  fruits,  copal,  amber,  cochineal,  cacao,  wild  ani 
mals  and  birds,  timber,  lime,  mats,  etc.26  In  this 

25  Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  p.  172. — Torquemada,  Mo 
narch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  89;  lib.  14,  cap.  7. — Boturini,  Idea,  p.  166. — 
Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib. 
7,  cap.  13. — The  people  of  the  provinces  were  distributed  into  calpulli, 
or  tribes,  who  held  the  lands  of  the  neighborhood  in  common.     Offi 
cers  of  their  own  appointment  parcelled  out  these  lands  among  the 
several  families  of  the  calpulli  ;  and  on  the  extinction  or  removal  of  a 
family  its  lands  reverted  to  the  common  stock,  to  be  again  distributed. 
The  individual  proprietor  had  no  power  to  alienate  them.     The  laws 
regulating  these  matters  were  very  precise,  and  had  existed  ever  since 
the  occupation  of  the  countryby  the  Aztecs.  Zurita, Rapport,  pp.  51-62. 

26  The  following  items  of  the  tribute  furnished  by  different  cities  will 
give  a  more  precise  idea  of  its  nature  : — 20  chests  of  ground  chocolate  ; 
40  pieces  of  armor,  of  a  particular  device  ;  2400  loads  of  large  mantles, 
of  twisted  cloth  ;  800  loads  of  small  mantles,  of  rich  wearing-apparel ; 
5  pieces  of  armor,  of  rich  feathers ;  60  pieces  of  armor,  of  common 
feathers  ;  a  chest  of  beans  ;  a  chest  of  chian  ;  a  chest  of  maize  ;  8000 


42  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

curious  medley  of  the  most  homely  commodities  and 
the  elegant  superfluities  of  luxury,  it  is  singular  that  no 
mention  should  be  made  of  silver,  the  great  staple  of 
the  country  in  later  times,  and  the  use  of  which  was 
certainly  known  to  the  Aztecs.27 

Garrisons  were  established  in  the  larger  cities, — 
probably  those  at  a  distance  and  recently  conquered, — 
to  keep  down  revolt,  and  to  enforce  the  payment  of  the 
tribute.28  Tax-gatherers  were  also  distributed  through- 
reams  of  paper  ;  likewise  2000  loaves  of  very  white  salt,  refined  in  the 
shape  of  a  mould,  for  the  consumption  only  of  the  lords  of  Mexico ; 
8000  lumps  of  unrefined  copal ;  400  small  baskets  of  white  refined 
copal ;  100  copper  axes  ;  80  loads  of  red  chocolate  ;  800  xicaras,  out 
of  which  they  drank  chocolate  ;  a  little  vessel  of  small  turquoise  stones  ; 
4  chests  of  timber,  full  of  maize  ;  4000  loads  of  lime  ;  tiles  of  gold,  of 
the  size  of  an  oyster,  and  as  thick  as  the  finger  ;  40  bags  of  cochineal ; 
20  bags  of  gold  dust,  of  the  finest  quality ;  a  diadem  of  gold,  of  a 
specified  pattern  ;  20  lip-jewels  of  clear  amber,  ornamented  with  gold  ; 
200  loads  of  chocolate  ;  100  pots  or  jars  of  liquid-amber  ;  8000  hand- 
fuls  of  rich  scarlet  feathers;  40  tiger-skins;  1600  bundles  of  cotton, 
etc.  etc.  Col.  de  Mendoza,  part  2,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vols.  i.,  vi. 

=7  Mapa  de  Tributes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia. — 
Tribute-roll,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.,  and  Interpretation,  vol.  vi., 
pp.  17-44. — The  Mendoza  Collection,  in  the  Bodleian  Library  at 
Oxford,  contains  a  roll  of  the  cities  of  the  Mexican  empire,  with  the 
specific  tributes  exacted  from  them.  It  is  a  copy  made  after  the  Con 
quest,  with  a  pen,  on  European  paper.  (See  Foreign  Quarterly  Re 
view,  No.  XVII.  Art.  4.)  An  original  painting  of  the  same  roll  was  in 
Boturini's  museum.  Lorenzana  has  given  us  engravings  of  it,  in 
which  the  outlines  of  the  Oxford  copy  are  filled  up,  though  somewhat 
rudely.  Clavigero  considers  the  explanations  in  Lorenzana's  edition 
very  inaccurate  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  25),  a  judgment  con 
firmed  by  Aglio,  who  has  transcribed  the  entire  collection  of  the 
Mendoza  papers,  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Antiquities  of  Mexico. 
It  would  have  much  facilitated  reference  to  his  plates  if  they  had  beei? 
numbered  ; — a  strange  omission  ! 

28  The  caciques  who  submitted  to  the  allied  arms  were  usually  con- 


LAWS   AND    REVENUES.  43 

out  the  kingdom,  who  were  recognized  by  their  official 
badges,  and  dreaded  from  the  merciless  rigor  of  their 
exactions.  By  a  stern  law,  every  defaulter  was  liable 
to  be  taken  and  sold  as  a  slave.  In  the  capital  were 
spacious  granaries  and  warehouses  for  the  reception  of 
the  tributes.  A  receiver-general  was  quartered  in  the 
palace,  who  rendered  in  an  exact  account  of  the  various 
contributions,  and  watched  over  the  conduct  of  the  in 
ferior  agents,  in  whom  the  least  malversation  was  sum 
marily  punished.  This  functionary  was  furnished  with 
a  map  of  the  whole  empire,  with  a  minute  specification 
of  the  imposts  assessed  on  every  part  of  it.  These 
imposts,  moderate  under  the  reigns  of  the  early  princes, 
became  so  burdensome  under  those  at  the  close  of  the 
dynasty,  being  rendered  still  more  oppressive  by  the 
manner  of  collection,  that  they  bred  disaffection 
throughout  the  land,  and  prepared  the  way  for  its  con 
quest  by  the  Spaniards.29 

Communication  was  maintained  with  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  country  by  means  of  couriers.  Post- 
houses  were  established  on  the  great  roads,  about  t\vo 
leagues  distant  from  each  other.  The  courier,  bearing 
his  despatches  in  the  form  of  a  hieroglyphical  painting, 
ran  with  them  to  the  first  station,  where  they  were 
taken  by  another  messenger  and  carried  forward  to  the 

firmed  in  their  authority,  and  the  conquered  places  allowed  to  retain 
their  laws  and  usages.  (Zurita,  Rapport,  p.  67.)  The  conquests  were 
not  always  partitioned,  but  sometimes,  singularly  enough,  were  held 
in  common  by  the  three  powers.  Ibid.,  p.  n. 

=9  Col.  of  Mendoza,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  17.— Carta  de 
Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  p.  no. — Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  14,  cap.  6,  8.— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib. 
7,  cap.  13. — Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  8,  cap.  18,  19. 


44  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

next,  and  so  on  till  they  reached  the  capital.  These 
couriers,  trained  from  childhood,  travelled  with  in 
credible  swiftness, — not  four  or  five  leagues  an  hour, 
as  an  old  chronicler  would  make  us  believe,  but  with 
such  speed  that  despatches  were  carried  from  one  to 
two  hundred  miles  a  day.30  Fresh  fish  was  frequently 
served  at  Montezuma's  table  in  twenty-four  hours  from 
the  time  it  had  been  taken  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  two 
hundred  miles  from  the  capital.  In  this  way  intelli 
gence  of  the  movements  of  the  royal  armies  was  rapidly 
brought  to  court ;  and  the  dress  of  the  courier,  denoting 
by  its  color  the  nature  of  his  tidings,  spread  joy  or 
consternation  in  the  towns  through  which  he  passed.3* 

3°  The  Hon.  C.  A.  Murray,  whose  imperturbable  good  humor  under 
real  troubles  forms  a  contrast,  rather  striking,  to  the  sensitiveness  of 
some  of  his  predecessors  to  imaginary  ones,  tells  us,  among  other 
marvels,  that  an  Indian  of  his  party  travelled  a  hundred  miles  in  four- 
and-twenty  hours.  (Travels  in  North  America  (New  York,  1839),  v°l- 

1.  p.  193.)     The  Greek  who,  according  to  Plutarch,  brought  the  news 
of  victory  to  Plataea,  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles,  in  a  day,  was 
a  better  traveller  still.    Some  interesting  facts  on  the  pedestrian  capa 
bilities  of  man  in  the  savage  state  are  collected  by  Buffon,  who  con 
cludes,  truly  enough,  "  L'homme  civilise  ne  connait  pas  ses  forces." 
(Histoire  naturelle  :  De  la  Jeunesse.) 

3i  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  14,  cap.  i. — The  same  wants 
led  to  the  same  expedients  in  ancient  Rome,  and  still  more  ancient 
Persia.  "  Nothing  in  the  world  is  borne  so  swiftly,"  says  Herodotus, 
"as  messages  by  the  Persian  couriers;"  which  his  commentator 
Valckenaer  prudently  qualifies  by  the  exception  of  the  carrier-pigeon. 
(Herodotus,  Hist.,  Urania,  sec.  98,  nee  non  Adnot.  ed.  Schweig- 
hauser.)  Couriers  are  noticed,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  in  China,  by 
Marco  Polo.  Their  stations  were  only  three  miles  apart,  and  they 
accomplished  five  days'  journey  in  one.  (Viaggi  di  Marco  Polo,  lib. 

2,  cap.  20,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn,  ii.)     A  similar  arrangement  for  posts 
subsists  there  at  the  present  day,  and  excites  the  admiration  of  a 
modern  traveller.     (Anderson,  British  Embassy  to  China  (London, 


MILITARY   INSTITUTIONS.  45 

But  the  great  aim  of  the  Aztec  institutions,  to  which 
private  discipline  and  public  honors  were  alike  directed, 
was  the  profession  of  arms.  In  Mexico,  as  in  Egypt, 
the  soldier  shared  with  the  priest  the  highest  consider 
ation.  The  king,  as  we  have  seen,  must  be  an  expe 
rienced  warrior.  The  tutelary  deity  of  the  Aztecs  was 
the  god  of  war.  A  great  object  of  their  military  ex 
peditions  was  to  gather  hecatombs  of  captives  for  his 
altars.  The  soldier  who  fell  in  battle  was  transported 
at  once  to  the  region  of  ineffable  bliss  in  the  bright 
mansions  of  the  Sun.32  Every  war,  therefore,  became 
a  crusade ;  and  the  warrior,  animated  by  a  religious 
enthusiasm  like  that  of  the  early  Saracen  or  the  Christian 
crusader,  was  not  only  raised  to  a  contempt  of  danger, 
but  courted  it,  for  the  imperishable  crown  of  martyrdom. 
Thus  we  find  the  same  impulse  acting  in  the  most  oppo 
site  quarters  of  the  globe,  and  the  Asiatic,  the  European, 
and  the  American,  each  earnestly  invoking  the  holy 
name  of  religion  in  the  perpetration  of  human  butchery. 

The  question  of  war  was  discussed  in  a  council  of 
the  king  and  his  chief  nobles.  Ambassadors  were  sent, 
previously  to  its  declaration,  to  require  the  hostile  state 
to  receive  the  Mexican  gods  and  to  pay  the  customary 
tribute.  The  persons  of  ambassadors  were  held  sacred 
throughout  Anahuac.  They  were  lodged  and  enter 
tained  in  the  great  towns  at  the  public  charge,  and  were 
everywhere  received  with  courtesy,  so  long  as  they  did 
not  deviate  from  the  high-roads  on  their  route.  When 
they  did,  they  forfeited  their  privileges.  If  the  em- 

1796),  P-  282.)     In  all  these  cases,  the  posts  were  for  the  use  of  gov 
ernment  only. 

32  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  3,  Apcnd.,  cap.  3. 


46  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

bassy  proved  unsuccessful,  a  defiance,  or  open  decla 
ration  of  war,  was  sent ;  quotas  were  drawn  from  the 
conquered  provinces,  which  were  always  subjected  to 
military  service,  as  well  as  the  payment  of  taxes ;  and 
the  royal  army,  usually  with  the  monarch  at  its  head, 
began  its  march.33 

The  Aztec  princes  made  use  of  the  incentives  em 
ployed  by  European  monarchs  to  excite  the  ambition 
of  their  followers.  They  established  various  military 
orders,  each  having  its  privileges  and  peculiar  insignia. 
There  seems,  also,  to  have  existed  a  sort  of  knighthood, 
of  inferior  degree.  It  was  the  cheapest  reward  of 
martial  prowess,  and  whoever  had  not  reached  it  was 
excluded  from  using  ornaments  on  his  arms  or  his 
person,  and  obliged  to  wear  a  coarse  white  stuff,  made 
from  the  threads  of  the  aloe,  called  ncquen.  Even  the 
members  of  the  royal  family  were  not  excepted  from 
this  law,  which  reminds  one  of  the  occasional  practice 
of  Christian  knights,  to  wear  plain  armor,  or  shields 
without  device,  till  they  had  achieved  some  doughty 
feat  of  chivalry.  Although  the  military  orders  were 
thrown  open  to  all,  it  is  probable  that  they  were  chiefly 
filled  with  persons  of  rank,  who,  by  their  previous 
training  and  connections,  were  able  to  come  into  the 
field  under  peculiar  advantages.34 

33  Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  68,  120. — Col.  of  Mendoza,  ap.  Antiq.  of 
Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI.  67;  vol.  vi.  p.  74. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind., 
lib.  14,  cap.  i. — The  reader  will  find  a  remarkable  resemblance  to 
these  military  usages  in  those  of  the  early  Romans.     Comp.  Liv., 
Hist.,  lib.  i,  cap.  32;  lib.  4,  cap.  30,  et  alibi. 

34  Ibid.,  lib.  14,  cap.  4,  5. — Acosta,  lib.  6,  ch.  26. — Col.  of  Mendoza, 
ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI.  65  ;  vol.  vi.  p.  72. — Camargo,  Hist, 
de  Tlascala,  MS. 


MILITARY  INSTITUTIONS.  47 

The  dress  of  the  higher  warriors  was  picturesque  and 
often  magnificent.  Their  bodies  were  covered  with  a 
close  vest  of  quilted  cotton,  so  thick  as  to  be  impene 
trable  to  the  light  missiles  of  Indian  warfare.  This 
garment  was  so  light  and  serviceable  that  it  was  adopted 
by  the  Spaniards.  The  wealthier  chiefs  sometimes 
wore,  instead  of  this  cotton  mail,  a  cuirass  made  of 
thin  plates  of  gold  or  silver.  Over  it  was  thrown  a 
surcoat  of  the  gorgeous  feather-work  in  which  they 
excelled.33  Their  helmets  were  sometimes  of  wood, 
fashioned  like  the  heads  of  wild  animals,  and  some 
times  of  silver,  on  the  top  of  which  waved  &  panache 
of  variegated  plumes,  sprinkled  with  precious  stones 
and  ornaments  of  gold.  They  wore  also  collars,  brace 
lets,  and  ear-rings  of  the  same  rich  materials.36 

Their  armies  were  divided  into  bodies  of  eight  thou 
sand  men  ;  and  these,  again,  into  companies  of  three 
or  four  hundred,  each  with  its  own  commander.  The 
national  standard,  which  has  been  compared  to  the 
ancient  Roman,  displayed,  in  its  embroidery  of  gold 

35  "  Their  mail,  if  mail  it  may  be  called,  was  woven 
Of  vegetable  down,  like  finest  flax, 
Bleached  to  the  whiteness  of  new-fallen  snow. 

****** 
Others,  of  higher  office,  were  arrayed 
In  feathery  breastplates,  of  more  gorgeous  hue 
Than  the  gay  plumage  of  the  mountain-cock, 
Than  the  pheasant's  glittering  pride.     But  what  were  these, 
Or  what  the  thin  gold  hauberk,  when  opposed 
To  arms  like  ours  in  battle?" 

Madoc,  Part  i,  canto  7. 

Beautiful  painting!  One  may  doubt,  however,  the  propriety  of 
the  Welshman's  vaunt,  before  the  use  of  fire-arms. 

36  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  27  ;  lib.  8,  cap.  12. 
— Relatione  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  p.  305.-— 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  ubi  supra. 


48  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

and  feather-work,  the  armorial  ensigns  of  the  state. 
These  were  significant  of  its  name,  which,  as  the  names 
of  both  persons  and  places  were  borrowed  from  some 
material  object,  was  easily  expressed  by  hieroglyphical 
symbols.  The  companies  and  the  great  chiefs  had  also 
their  appropriate  banners  and  devices,  and  the  gaudy 
hues  of  their  many-colored  plumes  gave  a  dazzling 
splendor  to  the  spectacle. 

Their  tactics  were  such  as  belong  to  a  nation  with 
whom  war,  though  a  trade,  is  not  elevated  to  the  rank 
of  a  science.  They  advanced  singing,  and  shouting 
their  war-cries,  briskly  charging  the  enemy,  as  rapidly 
retreating,  and  making  use  of  ambuscades,  sudden 
surprises,  and  the  light  skirmish  of  guerilla  warfare. 
Yet  their  discipline  was  such  as  to  draw  forth  the 
encomiums  of  the  Spanish  conquerors.  "A  beautiful 
sight  it  was,"  says  one  of  them,  "  to  see  them  set  out 
on  their  march,  all  moving  forward  so  gayly,  and  in  so 
admirable  order ! "  37  In  battle  they  did  not  seek  to 
kill  their  enemies,  so  much  as  to  take  them  prisoners ; 
and  they  never  scalped,  like  other  North  American 
tribes.  The  valor  of  a  warrior  was  estimated  by  the 
number  of  his  prisoners ;  and  no  ransom  was  large 
enough  to  save  the  devoted  captive.38 

37  Relatione  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ubi  supra. 

38  Col.  of  Mendoza,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI.  65,  66 ;  vol.  vi. 
p.  73. — Sahagun,   Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib,  8,  cap.  12. — Toribio, 
Hist,  de  los  Indios,  MS.,  Parte  I.  cap.  7. — Torquemada,  Monarch. 
Ind.,  lib.  14,  cap.  3. — Relatione  d'un  gentil'   huomo,   ap.   Ramusio, 
loc.  cit. — Scalping  may  claim  high  authority,  or,  at  least,  antiquity. 
The  Father  of  History  gives  an  account  of  it  among  the  Scythians, 
showing  that  they  performed  the  operation,  and  wore  the  hideous 
trophy,  in  the  same  manner  as  our  North  American  Indians.     (Hero- 
«*Qt,  Hist.,  Melpomene,  sec.  64.)     Traces  of  the  same  savage  custom 


AZTEC    CIVILIZATION.  49 

Their  military  code  bore  the  same  stern  features  as 
their  other  laws.  Disobedience  of  orders  was  pun 
ished  with  death.  It  was  death,  also,  for  a  soldier  to 
leave  his  colors,  to  attack  the  enemy  before  the  signal 
was  given,  or  to  plunder  another's  booty  or  prisoners. 
One  of  the  last  Tezcucan  princes,  in  the  spirit  of  an 
ancient  Roman,  put  two  sons  to  death — after  having 
cured  their  wounds — for  violating  the  last-mentioned 
law.  39 

I  must  not  omit  to  notice  here  an  institution  the 
introduction  of  which  in  the  Old  World  is  ranked 
among  the  beneficent  fruits  of  Christianity.  Hospitals 
were  established  in  the  principal  cities,  for  the  cure 
of  the  sick  and  the  permanent  refuge  of  the  disabled 
soldier;  and  surgeons  were  placed  over  them,  "who 
were  so  far  better  than  those  in  Europe,"  says  an  old 
chronicler,  "  that  they  did  not  protract  the  cure  .in 
order  to  increase  the  pay. ' '  4° 

Such  is  the  brief  outline  of  the  civil  and  military 
polity  of  the  ancient  Mexicans ;  less  perfect  than  could 
be  desired  in  regard  to  the  former,  from  the  imper 
fection  of  the  sources  whence  it  is  drawn.  Whoever 
has  had  occasion  to  explore  the  early  history  of  modern 
Europe  has  found  how  vague  and  unsatisfactory  is  the 
political  information  which  can  be  gleaned  from  the 
gossip  of  monkish  annalists.  How  much  is  the  diffi 
culty  increased  in  the  present  instance,  where  this 

are  also  found  in  the  laws  of  the  Visigoths,  among  the  Franks,  and 
even  the  Anglo-Saxons.  See  Guizot,  Cours  d'Histoire  moderne 
(Paris,  1829),  torn.  i.  p.  283.) 

39  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  67. 

4°  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  12,  cap.  6;  lib.  14,  cap.  3. — • 
Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36. 
VOL.  I.— c  5 


50  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

information,  first  recorded  in  the  dubious  language  of 
hieroglyphics,  was  interpreted  in  another  language, 
with  which  the  Spanish  chroniclers  were  imperfectly 
acquainted,  while  it  related  to  institutions  of  which 
their  past  experience  enabled  them  to  form  no  ade 
quate  conception  !  Amidst  such  uncertain  lights,  it  is 
in  vain  to  expect  nice  accuracy  of  detail.  All  that 
can  be  done  is  to  attempt  an  outline  of  the  more  prom 
inent  features,  that  a  correct  impression,  so  far  as  it 
goes,  may  be  produced  on  the  mind  of  the  reader. 

Enough  has  been  said,  however,  to  show  that  the 
Aztec  and  Tezcucan  races  were  advanced  in  civiliza 
tion  very  far  beyond  the  wandering  tribes  of  North 
America.41  The  degree  of  civilization  which  they  had 

41  Zurita  is  indignant  at  the  epithet  of  barbarians  bestowed  on  the 
Aztecs;  an  epithet,  he  says,  "which  could  come  from  no  one  who 
had  personal  knowledge  of  the  capacity  of  the  people,  or  their  insti 
tutions,  and  which  in  some  respects  is  quite  as  well  merited  by  the 
European  nations."  (Rapport,  p.  200,  et  seq.)  This  is  strong  lan 
guage.  Yet  no  one  had  better  means  of  knowing  than  this  eminent 
jurist,  who  for  nineteen  years  held  a  post  in  the  royal  audiences  of 
New  Spain.  During  his  long  residence  in  the  country  he  had  ample 
opportunity  of  acquainting  himself  with  its  usages,  both  through  his 
own  personal  observation  and  intercourse  with  the  natives,  and 
through  the  first  missionaries  who  came  over  after  the  Conquest.  On 
his  return  to  Spain,  probably  about  1560,  he  occupied  himself  with  an 
answer  to  queries  which  had  been  propounded  by  the  government,  on 
the  character  of  the  Aztec  laws  and  institutions,  and  on  that  of  the 
modifications  introduced  by  the  Spaniards.  Much  of  his  treatise  is 
taken  up  with  the  latter  subject.  In  what  relates  to  the  former  he 
is  more  brief  than  could  be  wished,  from  the  difficulty,  perhaps,  of 
obtaining  full  and  satisfactory  information  as  to  the  details.  As  far  as 
he  goes,  however,  he  manifests  a  sound  and  discriminating  judgment. 
He  is  very  rarely  betrayed  into  the  extravagance  of  expression  so 
visible  in  the  writers  of  the  time  ;  and  this  temperance,  combined  with 
his  uncommon  sources  of  information,  makes  his  work  one  of  highest 


AZTEC    CIVILIZATION.  5I 

reached,  as  inferred  by  their  political  institutions,  may 
be  considered,  perhaps,  not  much  short  of  that  enjoyed 
by  our  Saxon  ancestors  under  Alfred.  In  respect  to 
the  nature  of  it,  they  may  be  better  compared  with  the 
Egyptians  ;  and  the  examination  of  their  social  rela 
tions  and  culture  may  suggest  still  stronger  points  of 
resemblance  to  that  ancient  people. 

Those  familiar  with  the  modern  Mexicans  will  find 
it  difficult  to  conceive  that  the  nation  should  ever  have 
been  capable  of  devising  the  enlightened  polity  which 
we  have  been  considering.  But  they  should  remember 
that  in  the  Mexicans  of  our  day  they  see  only  a  con 
quered  race ;  as  different  from  their  ancestors  as  are 
the  modern  Egyptians  from  those  who  built, — I  will 
not  say,  the  tasteless  pyramids, — but  the  temples  and 
palaces  whose  magnificent  wrecks  strew  the  borders  of 
the  Nile,  at  Luxor  and  Karnac.  The  difference  is  not 
so  great  as  between  the  ancient  Greek,  and  his  degen 
erate  descendant,  lounging  among  the  masterpieces  of 
art  which  he  has  scarcely  taste  enough  to  admire, — 
speaking  the  language  of  those  still  more  imperishable 
monuments  of  literature  which  he  has  hardly  capacity 
to  comprehend.  Yet  he  breathes  the  same  atmosphere, 
is  warmed  by  the  same  sun,  nourished  by  the  same 
scenes,  as  those  who  fell  at  Marathon  and  won  the 
trophies  of  Olympic  Pisa.  The  same  blood  flows  in 
his  veins  that  flowed  in  theirs.  But  ages  of  tyranny 
have  passed  over  him  ;  he  belongs  to  a  conquered  race. 

authority  on  the  limited  topics  within  its  range.  The  original  manu 
script  was  consulted  by  Clavigero,  and,  indeed,  has  been  used  by  other 
writers.  The  work  is  now  accessible  to  all,  as  one  of  the  series  of 
translations  from  the  pen  of  the  indefatigable  Ternaux. 


52  AZTEC   CIVILIZATION. 

The  American  Indian  has  something  peculiarly  sen 
sitive  in  his  nature.  He  shrinks  instinctively  from  the 
rude  touch  of  a  foreign  hand.  Even  when  this  foreign 
influence  comes  in  the  form  of  civilization,  he  seems 
to  sink  and  pine  away  beneath  it.  It  has  been  so  with 
the  Mexicans.  Under  the  Spanish  domination,  their 
numbers  have  silently  melted  away.  Their  energies  are 
broken.  They  no  longer  tread  their  mountain  plains 
with  the  conscious  independence  of  their  ancestors. 
In  their  faltering  step  and  meek  and  melancholy  aspect 
we  read  the  sad  characters  of  the  conquered  race.  The 
cause  of  humanity,  indeed,  has  gained.  They  live 
under  a  better  system  of  laws,  a  more  assured  tran 
quillity,  a  purer  faith.  But  all  does  not  avail.  Their 
civilization  was  of  the  hardy  character  which  belongs 
to  the  wilderness.  The  fierce  virtues  of  the  Aztec 
were  all  his  own.  They  refused  to  submit  to  European 
culture, — to  be  engrafted  on  a  foreign  stock.  His 
outward  form,  his  complexion,  his  lineaments,  are  sub 
stantially  the  same ;  but  the  moral  characteristics  of 
the  nation,  all  that  constituted  its  individuality  as  a 
race,  are  effaced  forever. 


Two  of  the  principal  authorities  for  this  chapter  are  Torquemada 
and  Clavigero.  The  former,  a  Provincial  of  the  Franciscan  order, 
came  to  the  New  World  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
As  the  generation  of  the  Conquerors  had  not  then  passed  away,  he 
had  ample  opportunities  of  gathering  the  particulars  of  their  enterprise 
from  their  own  lips.  Fifty  years,  during  which  he  continued  in  the 
country,  put  him  in  possession  of  the  traditions  and  usages  of  the 
natives,  and  enabled  him  to  collect  their  history  from  the  earliest 
missionaries,  as  well  as  from  such  monuments  as  the  fanaticism  of  his 


TORQUE  MAD  A.  53 

own  countrymen  had  not  then  destroyed.  From  these  ample  sources 
he  compiled  his  bulky  tomes,  beginning,  after  the  approved  fashion  of 
the  ancient  Castilian  chroniclers,  with  the  creation  of  the  world,  and 
embracing  the  whole  circle  of  the  Mexican  institutions,  political,  re 
ligious,  and  social,  from  the  earliest  period  to  his  own  time.  In  han 
dling  these  fruitful  themes,  the  worthy  father  has  shown  a  full  measure 
of  the  bigotry  which  belonged  to  his  order  at  that  period.  Every 
page,  too,  is  loaded  with  illustrations  from  Scripture  or  profane  his 
tory,  which  form  a  whimsical  contrast  to  the  barbaric  staple  of  his 
story ;  and  he  has  sometimes  fallen  into  serious  errors,  from  his 
misconception  of  the  chronological  system  of  the  Aztecs.  But,  not 
withstanding  these  glaring  defects  in  the  composition  of  the  work, 
the  student,  aware  of  his  author's  infirmities,  will  find  few  better 
guides  than  Torquemada  in  tracing  the  stream  of  historic  truth  up  to 
the  fountain-head ;  such  is  his  manifest  integrity,  and  so  great  were 
his  facilities  for  information  on  the  most  curious  points  of  Mexican 
antiquity.  No  work,  accordingly,  has  been  more  largely  consulted 
and  copied,  even  by  some  who,  like  Herrera,  have  affected  to  set  little 
value  on  the  sources  whence  its  information  was  drawn.  (Hist,  gene 
ral,  dec.  6,  lib.  6,  cap.  19.)  The  Monarchia  Indiana  was  first  pub 
lished  at  Seville,  1615  (Nic.  Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Nova  (Matriti,  1783), 
torn.  ii.  p.  787),  and  since,  in  a  better  style,  in  three  volumes  folio,  at 
Madrid,  in  1723. 

The  other  authority,  frequently  cited  in  the  preceding  pages,  is  the 
Abbe  Clavigero's  Storia  antica  del  Messlco.  It  was  originally  printed 
towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  in  the  Italian  language,  and  in 
Italy,  whither  the  author,  a  native  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  a  member  of  the 
order  of  the  Jesuits,  had  retired,  on  the  expulsion  of  that  body  from 
Spanish  America,  in  1767.  During  a  residence  of  thirty-five  years  in 
his  own  country,  Clavigero  had  made  himself  intimately  acquainted 
with  its  antiquities,  by  the  careful  examination  of  paintings,  manu 
scripts,  and  such  other  remains  as  were  to  be  found  in  his  day.  .The 
plan  of  his  work  is  nearly  as  comprehensive  as  that  of  his  predecessor, 
Torquemada ;  but  the  later  and  more  cultivated  period  in  which  he 
wrote  is  visible  in  the  superior  address  with  which  he  has  managed 
his  complicated  subject.  In  the  elaborate  disquisitions  in  his  con 
cluding  volume,  he  has  done  much  to  rectify  the  chronology  and  the 
various  inaccuracies  of  preceding  writers.  Indeed,  an  avowed  object 
of  his  work  was  to  vindicate  his  countrymen  from  what  he  conceived 
to  be  the  misrepresentations  of  Robertson,  Raynal,  and  De  Pau.  In 


54  TORQUE  AfAD  A. 

regard  to  the  last  two  he  was  perfectly  successful.  Such  an  ostensible 
design  might  naturally  suggest  unfavorable  ideas  of  his  impartiality. 
But,  on  the  whole,  he  seems  to  have  conducted  the  discussion  with 
good  faith  ;  and,  if  he  has  been  led  by  national  zeal  to  overcharge  the 
picture  with  brilliant  colors,  he  will  be  found  much  more  temperate, 
in  this  respect,  than  those  who  preceded  him,  while  he  has  applied 
sound  principles  of  criticism,  of  which  they  were  incapable.  In  a 
word,  the  diligence  of  his  researches  has  gathered  into  one  focus  the 
scattered  lights  of  tradition  and  antiquarian  lore,  purified  in  a  great 
measure  from  the  mists  of  superstition  which  obscure  the  best  pro 
ductions  of  an  earlier  period.  From  these  causes,  the  work,  not 
withstanding  its  occasional  prolixity,  and  the  disagreeable  aspect  given 
to  it  by  the  profusion  of  uncouth  names  in  the  Mexican  orthography, 
which  bristle  over  every  page,  has  found  merited  favor  with  the 
public,  and  created  something  like  a  popular  interest  in  the  subject. 
Soon  after  its  publication  at  Cesena,  in  1780,  it  was  translated  into 
English,  and  more  lately  into  Spanish  and  German. 


CHAPTER   III. 

MEXICAN   MYTHOLOGY. THE  SACERDOTAL  ORDER. THE 

TEMPLES. HUMAN  SACRIFICES. 

THE  civil  polity  of  the  Aztecs  is  so  closely  blended 
with  their  religion  that  without  understanding  the 
latter  it  is  impossible  to  form  correct  ideas  of  their 
government  or  their  social  institutions.  I  shall  pass 
over,  for  the  present,  some  remarkable  traditions, 
bearing  a  singular  resemblance  to  those  found  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  endeavor  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  their 
mythology  and  their  careful  provisions  for  maintaining 
a  national  worship." 

Mythology  may  be  regarded  as  the  poetry  of  religion, 
or  rather  as  the  poetic  development  of  the  religious 
principle  in  a  primitive  age.  It  is  the  effort  of  un 
tutored  man  to  explain  the  mysteries  of  existence,  and 
the  secret  agencies  by  which  the  operations  of  nature 
are  conducted.  Although  the  growth  of  similar  con 
ditions  of  society,  its  character  must  vary  with  that 
of  the  rude  tribes  in  which  it  originates ;  and  the 
ferocious  Goth,  quaffing  mead  from  the  skulls  of 
his  slaughtered  enemies,  must  have  a  very  different 
mythology  from  that  of  the  effeminate  native  of  His- 
paniola,  loitering  away  his  hours  in  idle  pastimes, 
under  the  shadow  of  his  bananas. 

At  a  later  and  more  refined  period,  we  sometimes 

(55) 


5  6  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

find  these  primitive  legends  combined  into  a  regular 
system  under  the  hands  of  the  poet,  and  the  rude  out 
line  moulded  into  forms  of  ideal  beauty,  which  are 
the  objects  of  adoration  in  a  credulous  age,  and  the 
delight  of  all  succeeding  ones.  Such  were  the  beau 
tiful  inventions  of  Hesiod  and  Homer,  "who,"  says 
the  Father  of  History,  "created  the  theogony  of  the 
Greeks;"  an  assertion  not  to  be  taken  too  literally, 
since  it  is  hardly  possible  that  any  man  should  create 
a  religious  system  for  his  nation.1  They  only  filled 
up  the  shadowy  outlines  of  tradition  with  the  bright 
touches  of  their  own  imaginations,  until  they  had 
clothed  them  in  beauty  which  kindled  the  imaginations 
of  others.  The  power  of  the  poet,  indeed,  may  be 
felt  in  a  similar  way  in  a  much  riper  period  of  society. 
To  say  nothing  of  the  "Divina  Commedia,"  who  is 
there  that  rises  from  the  perusal  of  '  '  Paradise  Lost'  ' 
without  feeling  his  own  conceptions  of  the  angelic 
hierarchy  quickened  by  those  of  the  inspired  artist, 
and  a  new  and  sensible  form,  as  it  were,  given  to 
images  which  had  before  floated  dim  and  undefined 
before  him  ? 

The  last-mentioned  period  is  succeeded  by  that  of 
philosophy;  which,  disclaiming  alike  the  legends  of 
the  primitive  age  and  the  poetical  embellishments  of 
the  succeeding  one,  seeks  to  shelter  itself  from  the 
charge  of  impiety  by  giving  an  allegorical  iriterpreta- 


*EAAij«ri.  Herodotus,  Euterpe,  sec.  53.  — 
Heeren  hazards  a  remark  equally  strong,  respecting  the  epic  poets 
of  India,  "who,"  says  he,  "have  supplied  the  numerous  gods  that 
fill  her  Pantheon."  Historical  Researches,  Eng.  trans.  (Oxford, 
1833),  vol.  iii.  p.  139. 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY. 


57 


tion  to  the  popular  mythology,  and  thus  to  reconcile 
the  latter  with  the  genuine  deductions  of  science. 

The  Mexican  religion  had  emerged  from  the  first  of 
the  schools  we  have  been  considering,  and,  although 
little  affected  by  poetical  influences,  had  received  a 
peculiar  complexion  from  the  priests,  who  had  digested 
as  thorough  and  burdensome  a  ceremonial  as  ever  ex 
isted  in  any  nation.  They  had,  moreover,  thrown  the 
veil  of  allegory  over  early  tradition,  and  invested  their 
deities  with  attributes  savoring  much  more  of  the  gro 
tesque  conceptions  of  the  Eastern  nations  in  the  Old 
World,  than  of  the  lighter  fictions  of  Greek  mythology, 
in  which  the  features  of  humanity,  however  exaggerated, 
were  never  wholly  abandoned.2 

In  contemplating  the  religious  system  of  the  Aztecs, 
one  is  struck  with  its  apparent  incongruity,  as  if  some 
portion  of  it  had  emanated  from  a  comparatively  refined 
people,  open  to  gentle  influences,  while  the  rest  breathes 
a  spirit  of  unmitigated  ferocity.  It  naturally  suggests 
the  idea  of  two  distinct  sources,  and  authorizes  the 
belief  that  the  Aztecs  had  inherited  from  their  prede 
cessors  a  milder  faith,  on  which  was  afterwards  engrafted 
their  own  mythology.  The  latter  soon  became  domi 
nant,  and  gave  its  dark  coloring  to  the  creeds  of  the 
conquered  nations, — which  the  Mexicans,  like  the 
ancient  Romans,  seem  willingly  to  have  incorporated 

2  The  Hon.  Mountstuart  Elphinstone  has  fallen  into  a  similar  train 
of  thought,  in  a  comparison  of  the  Hindoo  and  Greek  mythology,  in 
his  "  History  of  India,"  published  since  the  remarks  in  the  text  were 
written.  (See  Book  I.  ch.  4.)  The  same  chapter  of  this  truly  philo 
sophic  work  suggests  some  curious  points  of  resemblance  to  the  Aztec 
religious  institutions,  that  may  furnish  pertinent  illustrations  to  the 
mind  bent  on  tracing  the  affinities  of  the  Asiatic  and  American  races. 
C* 


58  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION, 

into  their  own, — until   the  "same  funereal  superstition 
settled  over  the  farthest  borders  of  Anahuac. 

The  Aztecs  recognized  the  existence  of  a  supreme 
Creator  and  Lord  of  the  universe.  They  addressed 
him,  in  their  prayers,  as  "  the  God  by  whom  we  live," 
"omnipresent,  that  knoweth  all  thoughts,  and  giveth 
all]  gifts,"  "  without  whom  man  is  as  nothing,"  "in 
visible,  incorporeal,  one  God,  of  perfect  perfection  and 
purity,"  "under  whose  wings  we  find  repose  and  a 
sure  defence."  These  :sublime  attributes  infer  no  in 
adequate  conception  of  the  true  God.  But  the  idea  of 
unity — of  a  being  with  whom  volition  is  action,  who 
has  no  need  of  inferior  ministers  to  execute  his  pur 
poses — was  too  simple,  or  too  vast,  for  their  under 
standings  ;  and  they  sought  relief,  as  usual,  in  a  plurality 
of  deities,  who  presided  over  the  elements,  the  changes 
of  the  seasons,  and  the  various  occupations  of  man.3 
Of  these,  there  were  thirteen  principal  deities,  and 
more  than  two  hundred  inferior;  to  each  of  whom 
some  special  day  or  appropriate  festival  was  conse 
crated.4 

3  Ritter  has  well  shown,  by  the  example  of  the  Hindoo  system,  how 
the  idea  of  unity  suggests,  of  itself,  that  of  plurality.     History  of 
Ancient  Philosophy,  Eng.  trans.  (Oxford,  1838),  book  2,  ch.  I. 

4  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  passim. — Acosta,  lib.  5, 
ch.  9. — Boturini,  Idea,  p.  8,  et  seq. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS., 
cap.  i. — Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — The  Mexicans,  according 
to  Clavigero,  believed  in  an  evil  Spirit,  the  enemy  of  the  human  race, 
whose  barbarous  name  signified  "  Rational  Owl."    (Stor.  del  Messico, 
torn.  ii.  p.  2.)     The  curate  Bernaldez  speaks  of  the  Devil  being  em 
broidered  on  the  dresses  of  Columbus's  Indians,  in  the  likeness  of  an 
owl.     (Historia  de  los  Reyes  Catolicos,  MS.,  cap.  131.)     This  must 
not  be  confounded,  however,  with  the  evil  Spirit  in  the  mythology  of 
the  North  American  Indians  (see  Heckewelder's  Account,  ap.  Trans- 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY.  59 

At  the  head  of  all  stood  the  terrible  Huitzilopochtli, 
the  Mexican  Mars ;  although  it  is  doing  injustice  to 
the  heroic  war-god  of  antiquity  to  identify  him  with 
this  sanguinary  monster.  This  was  the  patron  deity 
of  the  nation.  His  fantastic  image  was  loaded  with 
costly  ornaments.  His  temples  were  the  most  stately 
and  august  of  the  public  edifices ;  and  his  altars  reeked 
with  the  blood  of  human  hecatombs  in  every  city  of 
the  empire.  Disastrous  indeed  must  have  been  the 
influence  of  such  a  superstition  on  the  character  of  the 
people.5 

actions  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  Philadelphia,  vol.  i.  p. 
205),  still  less  with  the  evil  Principle  of  the  Oriental  nations  of  the 
Old  World.  It  was  only  one  among  many  deities,  for  evil  was  found 
too  liberally  mingled  in  the  natures  of  most  of  the  Aztec  gods — in  the 
same  manner  as  with  the  Greeks — to  admit  of  its  personification  by 
any  one. 

5  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  3,  cap.  i,  et  seq. — Acosta, 
lib.  5,  ch.  9. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  6,  cap.  21. — Boturini, 
Idea,  pp.  27,  28. — Huitzilopochtli  is  compounded  of  two  words,  signi 
fying  "  humming-bird,"  and  "  left,"  from  his  image  having  the  feathers 
of  this  bird  on  its  left  foot  (Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p. 
17) ;  an  amiable  etymology  for  so  ruffian  a  deity.* — The  fantastic 


*  [The  name  may  possibly  have  referred  to  the  whispered  oracles 
and  intimations  in  dreams— such  as  "a  little  bird  of  the  air"  is  still 
fabled  to  convey— by  which,  according  to  the  legend,  the  deity  had 
guided  his  people  in  their  migrations  and  conquests.  That  it  had  a 
symbolical  meaning  will  hardly  be  doubted,  and  M.  Rrasseur  de  Bour- 
bourg,  who  had  originally  explained  it  as  "  Huitzil  the  Left-handed," 
— the  proper  name  of  a  deified  hero  with  the  addition  of  a  descriptive 
epithet, — has  since  found  one  of  too  deep  an  import  to  be  briefly  ex 
pounded  or  easily  understood.  (Quatre  Lettres  sur  le  Mexique  (Paris, 
1868),  p.  201,  et  al.)  Mexitl,  another  name  of  the  same  deity,  is 
translated  "  the  hare  of  the  aloes."  In  some  accounts  the  two  are 
distinct  personages.  Mythological  science  rejects  the  legend,  and  re« 


60  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

A  far  more  interesting  personage  in  their  mythology 
was  Quetzalcoatl,  god  of  the  air,  a  divinity  who,  during 

forms  of  the  Mexican  idols  were  in  the  highest  degree  symbolical. 
See  Gama's  learned  exposition  of  the  devices  on  the  statue  of  the 
goddess  found  in  the  great  square  of  Mexico.  (Descripcion  de  las 
Dos  Piedras  (Mexico,  1832),  Parte  i,  pp.  34-44.)  The  tradition  re 
specting  the  origin  of  this  god,  or,  at  least,  his  appearance  on  earth,  is 
curious.  He  was  born  of  a  woman.  His  mother,  a  devout  person, 
one  day,  in  her  attendance  on  the  temple,  saw  a  ball  of  bright-colored 
feathers  floating  in  the  air.  She  took  it,  and  deposited  it  in  her  bosom. 
She  soon  after  found  herself  pregnant,  and  the  dread  deity  was  born, 
coming  into  the  world,  like  Minerva,  all  armed, — with  a  spear  in  the 
right  hand,  a  shield  in  the  left,  and  his  head  surmounted  by  a  crest  of 
green  plumes.  (See  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  19,  et, 
seq.)  A  similar  notion  in  respect  to  the  incarnation  of  their  principal 
deity  existed  among  the  people  of  India  beyond  the  Ganges,  of  China, 
and  of  Thibet.  "  Budh,"  says  Milman,  in  his  learned  and  luminous 
work  on  the  history  of  Christianity,  "  according  to  a  tradition  known 
in  the  West,  was  born  of  a  virgin.  So  were  the  Fohi  of  China,  and 
the  Schakaof  of  Thibet,  no  doubt  the  same,  whether  a  mythic  or  a 
real  personage.  The  Jesuits  in  China,  says  Barrow,  were  appalled  at 
finding  in  the  mythology  of  that  country  the  counterpart  of  the  Virgo 
Deipara."  (Vol.  i.  p.  99,  note.)  The  existence  of  similar  religious 
ideas  in  remote  regions,  inhabited  by  different  races,  is  an  interesting 
subject  of  study ;  furnishing,  as  it  does,  one  of  the  most  important 
links  in  the  great  chain  of  communication  which  binds  together  the 
distant  families  of  nations. 


gards  the  Aztec  war-god  as  a  "  nature-deity,"  a  personification  of  the 
lightning,  this  being  a  natural  type  of  warlike  might,  of  which  the  com 
mon  symbol,  the-serpent,  was  represented  among  the  decorations  of  tha 
idol.  (Mythsof  the  New  World,  p.  118.)  More  commonly  he  has  been 
identified  with  the  sun,  and  Mr.  Tylor,  while  declining  "  to  attempt  a 
general  solution  of  this  inextricable  compound  parthenogenetic  deity," 
notices  the  association  of  his  principal  festival  with  the  winter's  solstice, 
and  the  fact  that  his  paste  idol  was  then  shot  through  with  an  arrow, 
as  tending  to  show  that  the  life  and  death  of  the  deity  were  emblem 
atic  of  the  year's,  "  while  his  functions  of  war-god  may  have  been  of 
later  addition."  Primitive  Culture,  torn.  ii.  p.  279. — ED.] 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY.  61 

his  residence  on  earth,  instructed  the  natives  in  the  use 
of  metals,  in  agriculture,  and  in  the  arts  of  govern 
ment.  He  was  one  of  those  benefactors  of  their  spe 
cies,  doubtless,  who  have  been  deified  by  the  gratitude 
of  posterity.  Under  him,  the  earth  teemed  with  fruits 
and  flowers,  without  the  pains  of  culture.  An  ear  of 
Indian  corn  was  as  much  as  a  single  man  could  carry. 
The  cotton,  as  it  grew,  took,  of  its  own  accord,  the 
rich  dyes  of  human  art.  The  air  was  filled  with  intox 
icating  perfumes  and  the  sweet  melody  of  birds.  In 
short,  these  were  the  halcyon  days,  which  find  a  place 
in  the  mythic  systems  of  so  many  nations  in  the  Old 
World.  It  was  the  golden  age  of  Anahuac. 

From  some  cause,  not  explained,  Quetzalcoatl  in 
curred  the  wrath  of  one  of  the  principal  gods,  and  was 
compelled  to  abandon  the  country.  On  his  way  he 
stopped  at  the  city  of  Cholula,  where  a  temple  was 
dedicated  to  his  worship,  the  massy  ruins  of  which 
still  form  one  of  the  most  interesting  relics  of  antiquity 
in  Mexico.  When  he  reached  the  shores  of  the  Mexican 
Gulf,  he  took  leave  of  his  followers,  promising  that  he 
and  his  descendants  would  revisit  them  hereafter,  and 
then,  entering  his  wizard  skiff,  made  of  serpents'  skins, 
embarked  on  the  great  ocean  for  the  fabled  land  of 
Tlapallan.  He  was  said  to  have  been  tall  in  stature, 
with  a  white  skin,  long,  dark  hair,  and  a  flowing  beard. 
The  Mexicans  looked  confidently  to  the  return  of  the 
benevolent  deity ;  and  this  remarkable  tradition,  deeply 
cherished  in  their  hearts,  prepared  the  way,  as  we  shall 
see  hereafter,  for  the  future  success  of  -the  Spaniards.6 

6  Codex  Vaticanus,  PI.  15,  and  Codex  Telleriano-Remensis,  Part,  dfc 
PI.  2,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vols.  i.,  vi. — Sahagun,  Hist,  de  NuevtK 
VOL.  I.— 6 


62  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

We  have  not  space  for  further  details  respecting  the 
Mexican  divinities,  the  attributes  of  many  of  whom 

Espana,  lib.  3,  cap.  3,  4,  13,  14. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  6, 
cap.  24. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  i. — Gomara,  Cr6nica 
de  la  Nueva-Espafia,  cap.  222,  ap.  Barcia,  Historiadores  primitives  de 
las  Indias  Occidentales  (Madrid,  1749),  torn.  ii. — Quetzalcoatl  signi 
fies  "  feathered  serpent."  The  last  syllable  means,  likewise,  a  "  twin  ;" 
which  furnished  an  argument  for  Dr.  Siguenza  to  identify  this  god 
with  the  apostle  Thomas  (Didymus  signifying  also  a  twin),  who,  he 
supposes,  came  over  to  America  to  preach  the  gospel.  In  this  rather 
startling  conjecture  he  is  supported  by  several  of  his  devout  country 
men,  who  appear  to  have  as  little  doubt  of  the  fact  as  of  the  advent 
of  St.  James,  for  a  similar  purpose,  in  the  mother-country.  See  the 
various  authorities  and  arguments  set  forth  with  becoming  gravity  in 
Dr.  Mier's  dissertation  in  Bustamante's  edition  of  Sahagun  (lib.  3, 
Suplem.),  and  Veytia  (torn.  i.  pp.  160-200).  Our  ingenious  country 
man  McCulloh  carries  the  Aztec  god  up  to  a  still  more  respectable 
antiquity,  by  identifying  him  with  the  patriarch  Noah.  Researches, 
Philosophical  and  Antiquarian,  concerning  the  Aboriginal  History  of 
America  (Baltimore,  1829),  p.  233.* 


*  [Under  the  modern  system  of  mythical  interpretation,  which  has 
been  applied  by  Dr.  Brinton  with  singular  force  and  ingenuity  to 
the  traditions  of  the  New  World,  Quetzalcoatl,  "  the  central  figure 
of  Toltec  mythology,"  with  the  corresponding  figures  found'  in  the 
legends  of  the  Mayas,  Quiches,  Peruvians,  and  other  races,  loses  all 
personal  existence,  and  becomes  a  creation  of  that  primitive  religious 
sentiment  which  clothed  the  uncomprehended  powers  of  nature  with 
the  attributes  of  divinity.  His  name,  "  Bird-Serpent,"  unites  the 
emblems  of  the  wind  and  the  lightning.  "  He  is  both  lord  of  the 
eastern  light  and  the  winds.  As  the  former,  he  was  born  of  a  virgin 
in  the  land  of  Tula  or  Tlapallan,  in  the  distant  Orient,  and  was  high- 
priest  of  that  happy  realm.  The  morning  star  was  his  symbol.  ,  .  . 
Like  all  the  dawn  heroes,  he  too  was  represented  as  of  white  com 
plexion,  clothed  in  long  white  robes,  and,  as  most  of  the  Aztec  gods, 
with  a  full  and  flowing  beard.  When  his  earthly  work  was  done,  he 
too  returned  to  the  east,  assigning  as  a  reason  that  the  sun,  the  rulei 
of  Tlapallan,  demanded  his  presence.  But  the  real  motive  was  thai 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY.  63 

were  carefully  defined,  as  they  descended,  in  regular 
gradation,  to  the  penates  or  household  gods,  whose 
little  images  were  to  be  found  in  the  humblest  dwelling. 

he  had  been  overcome  by  Tezcatlipoca,  otherwise  called  Yoalliehecatl, 
the  wind  or  spirit  of  the  night,  who  had  descended  from  heaven  by  a 
spider's  web  and  presented  his  rival  with  a  draught  pretended  to 
confer  immortality,  but,  in  fact,  producing  uncontrollable  longing  for 
home.  For  the  wind  and  the  light  both  depart  when  the  gloaming 
draws  near,  or  when  the  clouds  spread  their  dark  and  shadowy  webs 
along  the  mountains  and  pour  the  vivifying  rain  upon  the  fields.  .  .  . 
Wherever  he  went,  all  manner  of  singing  birds  bore  him  company, 
emblems  of  the  whistling  breezes.  When  he  finally  disappeared  in  the 
far  east,  he  sent  back  four  trusty  youths,  who  had  ever  shared  his  for 
tunes,  incomparably  swift  and  light  of  foot,  with  directions  to  divide 
the  earth  between  them  and  rule  it  till  he  should  return  and  resume 
his  power."  (The  Myths  of  the  New  World,  p.  180,  et  seq.)  So  far  as 
mere  physical  attributes  are  concerned,  this  analysis  may  be  accepted 
as  a  satisfactory  elucidation  of  the  class  of  figures  to  which  it  relates. 
But  the  grand  and  distinguishing  characteristic  of  these  figures  is  the 
moral  and  intellectual  eminence  ascribed  to  them.  They  are  invested 
with  the  highest  qualities  of  humanity, — attributes  neither  drawn  from 
the  external  phenomena  of  nature  nor  born  of  any  rude  sentiment  of 
wonder  and  fear.  Their  lives  and  doctrines  are  in  strong  contrast  with 
those  of  the  ordinary  divinities  of  the  same  or  other  lands,  and  they 
are  objects  not  of  a  propitiatory  worship,  but  of  a  pious  veneration. 
Can  we,  then,  assent  to  the  conclusion  that  under  this  aspect  also  they 
were  "wholly  mythical,"  "  creations  of  the  religious  fancy,"  "  ideals 
summing  up  in  themselves  the  best  traits,  the  most  approved  virtues, 
of  whole  nations"  ?  (Ibid.,  pp.  293,  294.)  This  would  seem  to  imply 
that  nations  may  attain  to  lofty  conceptions  of  moral  truth  and  excel 
lence  by  a  process  of  selection,  without  any  standard  or  point  of  view 
furnished  by  living  embodiments  of  the  ideal.  But  this  would  be  as 
impossible  as  to  arrive  at  conceptions  of  the  highest  forms  and  ideas 
of  art  independently  of  the  special  genius  and  actual  productions  of 
the  artist.  In  the  one  case,  as  in  the  other,  the  ideal  is  derived  origi 
nally  from  examples  shaped  by  finer  and  deeper  intuitions  than  those 
of  the  masses.  "  Im  Anfang  war  die  That."  The  mere  fact,  therefore, 
that  the  Mexican  people  recognized  an  exalted  ideal  of  purity  and 
wisdom  is  a  sufficient  proof  that  men  had  existed  among  them  who 


64  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

The  Aztecs  felt  the  curiosity,  common  to  man  in 
almost  every  stage  of  civilization,  to  lift  the  veil  which 
covers  the  mysterious  past  and  the  more  awful  future. 
They  sought  relief,  like  the  nations  of  the  Old  Conti 
nent,  from  the  oppressive  idea  of  eternity,  by  breaking 
it  up  into  distinct  cycles,  or  periods  of  time,  each  of 
several  thousand  years'  duration.  There  were  four  of 
these  cyles,  and  at  the  end  of  each,  by  the  agency  of 
one  of  the  elements,  the  human  family  was  swept  from 
the  earth,  and  the  sun  blotted  out  from  the  heavens,  to 
be  again  rekindled.7 

7  Cod.  Vat.,  PI.  7-10,  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vols.  i.,  vi. — Ixtlilxochitl, 
Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  i. — M.  de  Humboldt  has  been  at  some  pains 
to  trace  the  analogy  between  the  Aztec  cosmogony  and  that  of  Eastern 
Asia.  He  has  tried,  though  in  vain,  to  find  a  multiple  which  might 
serve  as  the  key  to  the  calculations  of  the  former.  ( Vues  des  Cordil- 
leres,  pp.  202-212. )  In  truth,  there  seems  to  be  a  material  discordance 
in  the  Mexican  statements,  both  in  regard  to  the  number  of  revolu 
tions  and  their  duration.  A  manuscript  before  me,  of  Ixtlilxochitl, 
reduces  them  to  three,  before  the  present  state  of  the  world,  and 
allows  only  4394  years  for  them  (Sumaria  Relacion,  MS.,  No.  i)  ; 
Gama,  on  the  faith  of  an  ancient  Indian  MS.  in  Boturini's  Catalogue 
(viii.  13),  reduces  the  duration  still  lower  (Descripcion  de  las  Dos 
Piedras,  Parte  i,  p.  49,  etseq.) ;  while  the  cycles  of  the  Vatican  paint 
ings  take  up  near  18,000  years. — It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  the 
wild  conjectures  of  an  ignorant  age  have  been  confirmed  by  the  more 
recent  discoveries  in  geology,  making  it  probable  that  the  earth  has 


displayed  these  qualities  in  an  eminent  degree.  The  status  of  their 
civilization,  imperfect  as  it  was,  can  be  accounted  for  only  in  the  same 
way.  Comparative  mythology  may  resolve  into  its  original  elements 
a  personification  of  the  forces  of  nature  woven  by  the  religious  fancy 
of  primitive  races,  but  it  cannot  sever  that  chain  of  discoverers  and 
civilizers  by  which  mankind  has  been  drawn  from  the  abysses  of 
savage  ignorance,  and  by  which  its  progress,  when  uninterrupted, 
has  been  always  maintained. — ED.] 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY.  65 

They  imagined  three  separate  states  of  existence  in 
the  future  life.  The  wicked,  comprehending  the  greater 
part  of  mankind,  were  to  expiate  their  sins  in  a  place 
of  everlasting  darkness.  Another  class,  with  no  other 
merit  than  that  of  having  died  of  certain  diseases, 
capriciously  selected,  were  to  enjoy  a  negative  exist 
ence  of  indolent  contentment.  The  highest  place  was 
reserved,  as  in  most  warlike  nations,  for  the  heroes 
who  fell  in  battle,  or  in  sacrifice.  They  passed  at 
once  into  the  presence  of  the  Sun,  whom  they  accom 
panied  with  songs  and  choral  dances  in  his  bright 
progress  through  the  heavens ;  and,  after  some  years, 
their  spirits  went  to  animate  the  clouds  and  singing- 
birds  of  beautiful  plumage,  and  to  revel  amidst  the 
rich  blossoms  and  odors  of; the  gardens  of  paradise.8 
Such  was  the  heaven  of  the  Aztecs ;  more  refined  in 
its  character  than  that  of  the  more  polished  pagan, 
whose  elysium  reflected  only  the  martial  sports  or  sen 
sual  gratifications  of  this  life.9  In  the  destiny  they 

experienced  a  number  of  convulsions,  possibly  thousands  of  years 
distant  from  each  other,  which  have  swept  away  the  races  then  ex 
isting,  and  given  a  new  aspect  to  the  globe. 

8  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  3,  Apend. — Cod.  Vat.,  ap. 
Antiq.  of  Mexico,  PL  1-5. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap. 
48. — The  last  writer  assures  us  "  that,  as  to  what  the  Aztecs  said  of 
their  going  to  hell,  they  were  right ;  for,  as  they  died  in  ignorance  of 
the  true  faith,  they  have,  without  question,  all  gone  there  to  suffer 
everlasting  punishment"  !     Ubi  supra. 

9  It  conveys  but  a  poor  idea  of  these  pleasures,  that  the  shade  of 
Achilles  can  say  "  he  had  rather  be  the  slave  of  the  meanest  man  on 
earth,  than  sovereign  among  the  dead."     (Odyss.,  A.  488-490.)     The 
Mahometans  believe  that  the  souls  of  martyrs  pass,  after  death,  into 
the  bodies  of  birds,  that  haunt  the  sweet  waters  and  bowers  of  Para 
dise.     (Sale's  Koran  (London,  1825),  vol.  i.  p.  106.) — The  Mexican 

6* 


66  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

assigned  to  the  wicked,  we  discern  similar  traces  of 
refinement ;  since  the  absence  of  all  physical  torture 
forms  a  striking  contrast  to  the  schemes  of  suffering  so 
ingeniously  devised  by  the  fancies  of  the  most  enlight 
ened  nations.10  In  all  this,  so  contrary  to  the  natural 
suggestions  of  the  ferocious  Aztec,  we  see  the  evidences 
of  a  higher  civilization,*  inherited  from  their  predeces 
sors  in  the  land. 

~"  Our  limits  will  allow  only  a  brief  allusion  to  one 
or  two  of  their  most  interesting  ceremonies.  On  the 
death  of  a  person,  his  corpse  was  dressed  in  the  pecu 
liar  habiliments  of  his  tutelar  deity.  It  was  strewed 
with  pieces  of  paper,  which  operated  as  charms  against 
the  dangers  of  the  dark  road  he  was  to  travel.  A 
throng  of  slaves,  if  he  were  rich,  was  sacrificed  at  his 
obsequies.  His  body  was  burned,  and  the  ashes,  col 
lected  in  a  vase,  were  preserved  in  one  of  the  apart- 

heaven  may  remind  one  of  Dante's,  in  its  material  enjoyments  ;  which, 
in  both,  are  made  up  of  light,  music,  and  motion.  The  sun,  it  must 
also  be  remembered,  was  a  spiritual  conception  with  the  Aztec : 

"  He  sees  with  other  eyes  than  theirs  ;  where  they 
Behold  a  sun,  he  spies  a  deity." 

10  It  is  singular  that  the  Tuscan  bard,  while  exhausting  his  invention 
in  devising  modes  of  bodily  torture,  in  his  "  Inferno,"  should  have 
made  so  little  use  of  the  moral  sources  of  misery.  That  he  has  not 
done  so  might  be  reckoned  a  strong  proof  of  the  rudeness  of  the  time, 
did  we  not  meet  with  examples  of  it  in  a  later  day  ;  in  which  a  serious 
and  sublime  writer,  like  Dr.  Watts,  does  not  disdain  to  employ  the 
same  coarse  machinery  for  moving  the  conscience  of  the  reader. 


[*  It  should  perhaps  be  regarded  rather  as  evidence  of  a  low  civili 
zation,  since  the  absence  of  any  strict  ideas  of  retribution  is  a  charac 
teristic  of  the  notions  in  regard  to  a  future  life  entertained  by  savage 
races.  See  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  vol.  ii.  p.  76,  et  seq.— ED.] 


MEXICAN  MYTHOLOGY.  67 

ments  of  his  house.  Here  we  have  successively  the 
usages  of  the  Roman  Catholic,  the  Mussulman,  the 
Tartar,  and  the  ancient  Greek  and  Roman ;  curious 
coincidences,  which  may  show  how  cautious  we  should 
be  in  adopting  conclusions  founded  on  analogy." 

A  more  extraordinary  coincidence  may  be  traced 
with  Christian  rites,  in  the  ceremony  of  naming  their 
children.  The  lips  and  bosom  of  the  infant  were 
sprinkled  with  water,  and  "the  Lord  was  implored  to 
permit  the  holy  drops  to  wash  away  the  sin  that  was 
given  to  it  before  the  foundation  of  the  world ;  so  that 
the  child  might  be  born  anew."  I2  We  are  reminded 
of  Christian  morals,  in  more  than  one  of  their  prayers, 
in  which  they  used  regular  forms.  "  Wilt  thou  blot  us 
out,  O  Lord,  forever?  Is  this  punishment  intended, 
not  for  our  reformation,  but  for  our  destruction?" 
Again,  "Impart  to  us,  out  of  thy  great  mercy,  thy 

"  Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo  (Nov.  1521),  MS. — Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  8. — 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  45. — Sahagun,  Hist,  de 
Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  3,  Apend. — Sometimes  the  body  was  buried  entire, 
with  valuable  treasures,  if  the  deceased  was  rich.  The  "  Anonymous 
Conqueror,"  as  he  is  called,  saw  gold  to  the  value  of  3000  castellanos 
drawn  from  one  of  these  tombs.  Relatione  d'un  gentil1  huomo,  ap. 
Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  p.  310. 

12  This  interesting  rite,  usually  solemnized  with  great  formality,  in 
the  presence  of  the  assembled  friends  and  relatives,  is  detailed  with 
minuteness  by  Sahagun  (Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  6,  cap.  37), 
and  by  Zuazo  (Carta,  MS.),  both  of  them  eye-witnesses.  For  a  ver 
sion  of  part  of  Sahagun's  account,  see  Appendix,  Part  I,  note  26.* 


*  [A  similar  rite  of  baptism,  founded  on  the  natural  symbolism  of 
the  purifying  power  of  water,  was  practised  by  other  races  in  America, 
and  had  existed  in  the  East,  as  the  reader  need  hardly  be  told,  long 
anterior  to  Christianity. — ED.] 


68  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

gifts,  which  we  are  not  worthy  to  receive  through  our 
own  merits."  "Keep  peace  with  all,"  says  another 
petition;  "bear  injuries  with  humility;  God,  who 
sees,  will  avenge  you. ' '  But  the  most  striking  parallel 
with  Scripture  is  in  the  remarkable  declaration  that 
"he  who  looks  too  curiously  on  a  woman  commits 
adultery  with  his  eyes."13  These  pure  and  elevated 
maxims,  it  is  true,  are  mixed  up  with  others  of  a 
puerile,  and  even  brutal,  character,  arguing  that  con 
fusion  of  the  moral  perceptions  which  is  natural  in  the 
twilight  of  civilization.  One  would  not  expect,  how 
ever,  to  meet,  in  such  a  state  of  society,  with  doctrines 
as  sublime  as  any  inculcated  by  the  enlightened  codes 
of  ancient  philosophy.14 

J3  "  «j  Es  posible  que  este  azote  y  este  castigo  no  se  nos  dd  para 
nuestra  correccion  y  enmienda,  sino  para  total  destruction  y  aso- 
lamiento?"  (Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  i.)  "  Y 
esto  por  sola  vuestra  liberalidad  y  magnificencia  lo  habeis  de  hacer, 
que  ninguno  es  digno  ni  merecedor  de  recibir  vuestra  larguezas  por 
su  dignidad  y  merecimiento,  sino  que  por  vuestra  benignidad."  (Ibid., 
lib.  6,  cap.  2.)  "  Sed  sufridos  y  reportados,  que  Dios  bien  os  ve  y 
responded  por  vosotros,  y  el  os  vengard  (d)  sed  humiides  con  todos, 
y  con  esto  os  hard  Dios  merced  y  tambienhonra."  (Ibid.,  lib.  6,  cap. 
17.)  "  Tampoco  mires  con  curiosidad  el  gesto  y  disposicion  de  la 
gente  principal,  mayormente  de  las  mugeres,  y  sobre  todo  de  las 
casadas,  porque  dice  el  refran  que  el  que  curiosamente  mira  d  la 
muger  adultera  con  la  vista."  (Ibid.,  lib.  6,  cap.  22.) 

J4  [On  reviewing  the  remarkable  coincidences  shown  in  the  above 
pages  with  the  sentiments  and  even  the  phraseology  of  Scripture,  we 
cannot  but  admit  there  is  plausible  ground  for  Mr.  Gallatin's  conject 
ure  that  the  Mexicans,  after  the  Conquest,  attributed  to  their  remote 
ancestors  ideas  which  more  properly  belonged  to  a  generation  coeval 
with  the  Conquest,  and  brought  into  contact  with  the  Europeans. 
"The  substance,"  he  remarks,  "may  be  true;  but  several  of  the 
prayers  convey  elevated  and  correct  notions  of  a  Supreme  Being, 
which  appear  to  me  altogether  inconsistent  with  that  which  we  know 


SACERDOTAL    ORDER.  69 

But  although  the  Aztec  mythology  gathered  nothing 
from  the  beautiful  inventions  of  the  poet  or  from  the 
refinements  of  philosophy,  it  was  much  indebted,  as  I 
have  noticed,  to  the  priests,  who  endeavored  to  dazzle 
the  imagination  of  the  people  by  the  most  formal  and 
pompous  ceremonial.  The  influence  of  the  priesthood 
must  be  greatest  in  an  imperfect  state  of  civilization, 
where  it  engrosses  all  the  scanty  science  of  the  time  in 
its  own  body.  This  is  particularly  the  case  when  the 
science  is  of  that  spurious  kind  which  is  less  occupied 
with  the  real  phenomena  of  nature  than  with  the  fan 
ciful  chimeras  of  human  superstition.  Such  are  the 
sciences  of  astrology  and  divination,  in  which  the 
Aztec  priests  were  well  initiated ;  and,  while  they 
seemed  to  hold  the  keys  of  the  future  in  their  own 
hands,  they  impressed  the  ignorant  people  with  sen 
timents  of  superstitious  awe,  beyond  that  which  has 
probably  existed  in  any  other  country, — even  in  ancient 
Egypt. 

The  sacerdotal  order  was  very  numerous ;  as  may  be 

to  have  been  their  practical  religion  and  worship."  *     Transactions 
of  the  American  Ethnological  Society,  i.  210.] 


*  [It  is  evident  that  an  inconsistency  such  as  belongs  to  all  religions, 
and  to  human  nature  in  general,  affords  no  sufficient  ground  for 
doubting  the  authenticity  of  the  prayers  reported  by  Sahagun.  Simi 
lar  specimens  of  prayers  used  by  the  Peruvians  have  been  preserved, 
and,  like  those  of  the  Aztecs,  exhibit,  in  their  recognition  of  spiritual 
as  distinct  from  material  blessings,  a  contrast  to  the  forms  of  petition 
employed  by  the  wholly  uncivilized  races  of  the  north.  They  are  in 
harmony  with  the  purer  conceptions  of  morality  which  those  nations 
are  admitted  to  have  possessed,  and  which  formed  the  real  basis  of 
their  civilization. — ED.] 


7o  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

inferred  from  the  statement  that  five  thousand  priests 
were,  in  some  way  or  other,  attached  to  the  principal 
temple  in  the  capital.  The  various  ranks  and  functions 
of  this  multitudinous  body  were  discriminated  with 
great  exactness.  Those  best  instructed  in  music  took 
the  management  of  the  choirs.  Others  arranged  the 
festivals  conformably  to  the  calendar.  Some  superin 
tended  the  education  of  youth,  and  others  had  charge 
of  the  hieroglyphical  paintings  and  oral  traditions ; 
while  the  dismal  rites  of  sacrifice  were  reserved  for  the 
chief  dignitaries  of  the  order.  At  the  head  of  the 
whole  establishment  were  two  high-priests,  elected  from 
the  order,  as  it  would  seem,  by  the  king  and  principal 
nobles,  without  reference  to  birth,  but  solely  for  their 
qualifications,  as  shown  by  their  previous  conduct  in  a 
subordinate  station.  They  were  equal  in  dignity,  and 
inferior  only  to  the  sovereign,  who  rarely  acted  without 
their  advice  in  weighty  matters  of  public  concern.15 

The  priests  were  each  devoted  to  the  service  of  some 
particular  deity,  and  had  quarters  provided  within  the 
spacious  precincts  of  their  temple ;  at  least,  while  en 
gaged  in  immediate  attendance  there, — for  they  were 

»S  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  Apend.  ;  lib.  3,  cap.  9. 
— Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  8,  cap.  20;  lib.  9,  cap.  3,  56, — 
Gomara,  Cron.,  cap.  215,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. — Toribio,  Hist,  de  los 
Indies,  MS.,  Parte  i,  cap.  4. — Clavigero  says  that  the  high-priest  was 
necessarily  a  person  of  rank.  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  37.)  I 
find  no  authority  for  this,  not  even  in  his  oracle,  Torquemada,  who 
expressly  says,  "  There  is  no  warrant  for  the  assertion,  however  proba 
ble  the  fact  may  be."  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  9,  cap.  5.)  It  is  contra 
dicted  by  Sahagun,  whom  I  have  followed  as  the  highest  authority  in 
these  matters.  Clavigero  had  no  other  knowledge  of  Sahagun's  work 
than  what  was  filtered  through  the  writings  of  Torquemada  and  later 
authors. 


SACERDOTAL     ORDER,  yr 

allowed  to  marry,  and  have  families  of  their  own.  In 
this  monastic  residence  they  lived  in  all  the  stern 
severity  of  conventual  discipline.  Thrice  during  the 
day,  and  once  at  night,  they  were  called  to  prayers. 
They  were  frequent  in  their  ablutions  and  vigils,  and 
mortified  the  flesh  by  fasting  and  cruel  penance, — 
drawing  blood  from  their  bodies  by  flagellation,  or  by 
piercing  them  with  the  thorns  of  the  aloe ;  in  short, 
by  practising  all  those  austerities  to  which  fanaticism 
(to  borrow  the  strong  language  of  the  poet)  has  re 
sorted,  in  every  age  of  the  world, 

"  In  hopes  to  merit  heaven  by  making  earth  a  hell."  l6 

The  great  cities  were  divided  into  districts,  placed 
under  the  charge  of  a  sort  of  parochial  clergy,  who 
regulated  every  act  of  religion  within  their  precincts. 
It  is  remarkable  that  they  administered  the  rites  of 
confession  and  absolution.  The  secrets  of  the  con 
fessional  were  held  inviolable,  and  penances  were 
imposed  of  much  the  same  kind  as  those  enjoined  in 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  There  were  two  re 
markable  peculiarities  in  the  Aztec  ceremony.  The 
first  was,  that,  as  the  repetition  of  an  offence  once 
atoned  for  was  deemed  inexpiable,  confession  was  made 
but  once  in  a  man's  life,  and  was  usually  deferred  to  a 
late  period  of  it,  when  the  penitent  unburdened  his 
conscience  and  settled  at  once  the  long  arrears  of 
iniquity.  Another  peculiarity  was,  that  priestly  abso 
lution  was  received  in  place  of  the  legal  punishment 
of  offences,  and  authorized  an  acquittal  in  case  of 

16  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  ubi  supra. — Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  9,  cap.  25. — Gomara,  Cron.,  ap.  Barcia,  ubi 
supra. — Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  14,  17. 


72  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

arrest.  Long  after  the  Conquest,  the  simple  natives, 
when  they  came  under  the  arm  of  the  law,  sought  to 
escape  by  producing  the  certificate  of  their  confession.17 
One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  priesthood 
was  that  of  education,  to  which  certain  buildings  were 
appropriated  within  the  enclosure  of  the  principal  tem 
ple.  Here  the  youth  of  both  sexes,  of  the  higher  and 
middling  orders,  were  placed  at  a  very  tender  age. 
The  girls  were  intrusted  to  the  care  of  priestesses ;  for 
women  were  allowed  to  exercise  sacerdotal  functions, 
except  those  of  sacrifice.18  In  these  institutions  the 

J7  Sahagtm,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  i,  cap.  12;  lib.  6,  cap.  7. 
— The  address  of  the  confessor,  on  these  occasions,  contains  some 
things  too  remarkable  to  be  omitted.  "  O  merciful  Lord,"  he  says,  in. 
his  prayer,  "  thou  who  knowest  the  secrets  of  all  hearts,  let  thy  forgive 
ness  and  favor  descend,  like  the  pure  waters  of  heaven,  to  wash  away 
the  stains  from  the  soul,  Thou  knowest  that  this  poor  man  has  sinned, 
not  from  his  own  free  will,  but  from  the  influence  of  the  sign  under 
which  he  was  born."  After  a  copious  exhortation  to  the  penitent, 
enjoining  a  variety  of  mortifications  and  minute  ceremonies  by  way 
of  penance,  and  particularly  urging  the  necessity  of  instantly  pro 
curing  a  slave  for  sacrifice  to  the  Deity,  the  priest  concludes  with 
inculcating  charity  to  the  poor.  "  Clothe  the  naked  and  feed  the 
hungry,  whatever  privations  it  may  cost  thee  ;  for  remember,  their 
flesh  is  like  thine,  and  they  are  men  like  thec."  Such  .is  the  strange 
medley  of  truly  Christian  benevolence  and  heathenish  abominations 
which  pervades  the  Aztec  litany, — intimating  sources  widely  different. 

18  The  Egyptian  gods  were  also  served  by  priestesses.  (See  Herod 
otus,  Euterpe,  sec.  54.)  Tales  of  scandal  similar  to  those  which  the 
Greeks  circulated  respecting  them,  have  been  told  of  the  Aztec  vir* 
gins.  (See  Le  Noir's  dissertation,  ap.  Antiquites  Mex'caines  ''Paris. 
1834),  torn.  ii.  p.  7,  note.)  The  early  missionaries,  credulous  enough 
certainly,  give  no  countenance  to  such  reports ;  and  Father  Acosta, 
on  the  contrary,  exclaims,  "  In  truth,  it  is  very  strange  to  see  that  this 
false  opinion  of  religion  hath  so  great  force  among  these  yoong  men 
and  maidens  of  Mexico,  that  they  will  serve  the  Divell  with  so  great 
rigor  and  austerity,  which,  many  of  us  doe  not  in  the  service  of  the 


SA  CERD  O  TAL    ORDER. 


73 


boys  were  drilled  in  the  routine  of  monastic  discipline ; 
they  decorated  the  shrines  of  the  gods  with  flowers, 
fed  the  sacred  fires,  and  took  part  in  the  religious 
chants  and  festivals.  Those  in  the  higher  school — the 
CalmccaCy  as  it  was  called — were  initiated  in  their 
traditionary  lore,  the  mysteries  of  hieroglyphics,  the 
principles  of  government,  and  such  branches  of  astro 
nomical  and  natural  science  as  were  within  the  com 
pass  of  the  priesthood.  The  girls  learned  various 
feminine  employments,  especially  to  weave  and  em 
broider  rich  coverings  for  the  altars  of  the  gods. 
Great  attention  was  paid  to  the  moral  discipline  of 
both  sexes.  The  most  perfect  decorum  prevailed ; 
and  offences  were  punished  with  extreme  rigor,  in 
some  instances  with  death  itself.  Terror,  not  love, 
was  the  spring  of  education  with  the  Aztecs.'9 

At  a  suitable  age  for  marrying,  or  for  entering  into 
the  world,  the  pupils  were  dismissed,  with  much  cere 
mony,  from  the  convent,  and  the  recommendation  of 
the  principal  often  introduced  those  most  competent 
to  responsible  situations  in  public  life.  Such  was  the 
crafty  policy  of  the  Mexican  priests,  who,  by  reserving 
to  themselves  the  business  of  instruction,  were  enabled 

most  high  God  ;  the  which  is  a  great  shame  and  confusion."  Eng. 
trans.,  lib.  5,  cap.  16. 

J9  Toribio,  Hist,  delos  Indies,  MS.,  Parte  I,  cap.  9. — Sahagun,  Hist, 
de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  Apend.  ;  lib.  3,  cap.  4-8. — Zurita,  Rapport, 
pp.  123-126. — Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  15,  16. — Torquemada,  Monarch. 
Ind.,  lib.  9,  cap.  11-14,  3°.  31- — "  They  were  taught,"  says  the  good 
father  last  cited,  "  to  eschew  vice,  and  cleave  to  virtue, — according  to 
their  notions  of  them  ;  namely,  to  abstain  from  wrath  to  offer  violence 
and  do  wrong  to  no  man, — in  short,  to  perform  the  duties  plainly 
pointed  out  by  natural  religion." 
VOL.  I. — D  7 


74  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

to  mould  the  young  and  plastic  mind  according  to 
their  own  wills,  and  to  train  it  early  to  implicit  rev 
erence  for  religion  and  its  ministers ;  a  reverence 
which  still  maintained  its  hold  on  the  iron  nature  of 
the  warrior,  long  after  every  other  vestige  of  education 
had  been  effaced  by  the  rough  trade  to  which  he  was 
devoted. 

To  each  of  the  principal  temples,  lands  were  annexed 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  priests.  These  estates  were 
augmented  by  the  policy  or  devotion  of  successive 
princes,  until,  under  the  last  Montezuma,  they  had 
swollen  to  an  enormous  extent,  and  covered  every  dis 
trict  of  the  empire.  The  priests  took  the  management 
of  their  property  into  their  own  hands  ;  and  they  seem 
to  have  treated  their  tenants  with  the  liberality  and 
indulgence  characteristic  of  monastic  corporations. 
Besides  the  large  supplies  drawn  from  this  source,  the 
religious  order  was  enriched  with  the  first-fruits,  and 
such  other  offerings  as  piety  or  superstition  dictated. 
The  surplus  beyond  what  was  required  for  the  support 
of  the  national  worship  was  distributed  in  alms  among 
the  poor ;  a  duty  strenuously  prescribed  by  their  moral 
code.  Thus  we  find  the  same  religion  inculcating 
lessons  of  pure  philanthropy,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of 
merciless  extermination,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  on  the 
other.  The  inconsistency  will  not  appear  incredible 
to  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  history  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Inquisition.20 

30  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  8,  cap.  20,  21. — Camargo,  Hist, 
de  Tlascala,  MS. — It  is  impossible  not  to  be  struck  with  the  great 
resemblance,  not  merely  in  a  few  empty  forms,  but  in  the  whole  way 
of  life,  of  the  Mexican  and  Egyptian  priesthood.  Compare  Herod- 


TEMPLES.  75 

The  Mexican  temples — tcocallis,  "houses  of  God," 
as  they  were  called* — were  very  numerous.  There  were 
several  hundreds  in  each  of  the  principal  cities,  many 
of  them,  doubtless,  very  humble  edifices.  They  were 
solid  masses  of  earth,  cased  with  brick  or  stone,  and  in 
their  form  somewhat  resembled  the  pyramidal  structures 
of  ancient  Egypt.  The  bases  of  many  of  them  were 
more  than  a  hundred  feet  square,  and  they  towered  to 
a  still  greater  height.  They  were  distributed  into  four 
or  five  stories,  each  of  smaller  dimensions  than  that 
below.  The  ascent  was  by  a  flight  of  steps,  at  an  angle 
of  the  pyramid,  on  the  outside.  This  led  to  a  sort  of 
terrace,  or  gallery,  at  the  base  of  the  second  story, 
which  passed  quite  round  the  building  to  another  flight 
of  stairs,  commencing  also  at  the  same  angle  as  the 
preceding  and  directly  over  it,  and  leading  to  a  similar 
terrace ;  so  that  one  had  to  make  the  circuit  of  the 
temple  several  times,  before  reaching  the  summit.  In 
some  instances  the  stairway  led  directly  up  the  centre 
of  the  western  face  of  the  building.  The  top  was  a 

otus  (Euterpe,  passim)  and  Diodorus  (lib.  i,  sec.  73,  81).  The  English 
reader  may  consult,  for  the  same  purpose,  Heeren  (Hist.  Res.,  vol.  v. 
chap.  2),  Wilkinson  (Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyptians 
(London,  1837),  vol.  i.  pp.  257-279),  the  last  writer  especially, — who 
has  contributed,  more  than  all  others,  towards  opening  to  us  the 
interior  of  the  social  life  of  this  interesting  people. 


*  [Humboldt  has  noticed  the  curious  similarity  of  the  word  teoealli. 
with  the  Greek  compound — actual  or  possible — tfeoKaAuz  ;  and  Busch- 
mann  observes,  "  Die  Ubereinstimmung  des  mr\.  teotl  und  #«d?, 
arithmetisch  sehr  hoch  anzuschlagen  wegen  des  Doppelvocals,  zeigt 
wie  weit  es  der  Zufall  in  Wortahnlichkeiten  zwischen  ganz  verschie- 
denen  Sprachcn  bringen  kann.  '  Uber  die  aztekischen  Ortsnamen, 
S.  627.  — Eu.] 


7 6  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

broad  area,  on  which  were  erected  one  or  two  towers, 
forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  the  sanctuaries  in  which  stood 
the  sacred  images  of  the  presiding  deities.  Before 
these  towers  stood  the  dreadful  stone  of  sacrifice,  and 
two  lofty  altars,  on  which  fires  were  kept,  as  inex 
tinguishable  as  those  in  the  temple  of  Vesta.  There 
were  said  to  be  six  hundred  of  these  altars,  on  smaller 
buildings  within  the  enclosure  of  the  great  temple  of 
Mexico,  which,  \vith  those  on  the  sacred  edifices  in 
other  parts  of  the  city,  shed  a  brilliant  illumination 
over  its  streets,  through  the  darkest  night.21 

From  the  construction  of  their  temples,  all  religious 
services  were  public.  The  long  processions  of  priests, 
winding  round  their  massive  sides,  as  they  rose  higher 
and  higher  towards  the  summit,  and  the  dismal  rites 
of  sacrifice  performed  there,  wrere  all  visible  from  the 
remotest  corners  of  the  capital,  impressing  on  the 
spectator's  mind  a  superstitious  veneration  for  the 
mysteries  of  his  religion,  and  for  the  dread  ministers 
by  whom  they  were  interpreted. 

This  impression  was  kept  in  full  force  by  their  numer 
ous  festivals.  Every  month  was  consecrated  to  some 
protecting  deity;  and  every  week,  nay,  almost  every 

21  Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  307. — Ca~ 
margo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.— Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  13.— Gomara. 
Cron.,  cap.  80,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. — Toribio,  Hist,  de  los  Indies,  MS., 
Parte  i,  cap.  4.— Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS.— This  last  writer,  who 
visited  Mexico  immediately  after  the  Conquest,  in  1521,  assures  us 
that  some  of  the  smaller  temples,  or  pyramids,  were  filled  with  earth 
impregnated  with  odoriferous  gums  and  gold  dust ;  the  latter  some 
times  in  such  quantities  as  probably  to  be  worth  a  million  of  cas- 
tellanos !  (Ubi  supra.)  These  were  the  temples  of  Mammon, 
indeed !  But  I  find  no  confirmation  of  such  golden  reports. 


IlUMAN  SACRIFICES. 


77 


day,  was  set  down  in  their  calendar  for  some  appro 
priate  celebration  ;  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  understand 
how  the  ordinary  business  of  life  could  have  been  com 
patible  with  the  exactions  of  religion.  Many  of  their 
ceremonies  were  of  a  light  and  cheerful  complexion, 
consisting  of  the  national  songs  and  dances,  in  which 
both  sexes  joined.  Processions  were  made  of  women 
and  children  crowned  with  garlands  and  bearing  offer 
ings  of  fruits,  the  ripened  maize,  or  the  sweet  incense 
of  copal  and  other  odoriferous  gums,  while  the  altars 
of  the  deity  were  stained  with  no  blood  save  that  of 
animals.22  These  were  the  peaceful  rites  derived  from 
their  Toltec  predecessors,  on  which  the  fierce  Aztecs 
engrafted  a  superstition  too  loathsome  to  be  exhibited 
in  all  its  nakedness,  and  one  over  which  I  would  gladly 
draw  a  veil  altogether,  but  that  it  would  leave  the 
reader  in  ignorance  of  their  most  striking  institution, 
and  one  that  had  the  greatest  influence  in  forming  the 
national  character. 

Human  sacrifices  were  adopted  by  the  Aztecs  early 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  about  two  hundred  years 
before  the  Conquest.23  Rare  at  first,  they  became 
more  frequent  with  the  wider  extent  of  their  empire ; 

22  Cod.  Tel.-Rem.,  PI.  i,  and  Cod.  Vat.,  passim,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mex 
ico,  vols.  i.,  vi. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  10,  cap.  10,  et  seq. 
— Sahagun,   Hist,   de    Nueva-Espana,    lib.   2,  passim. — Among   the 
offerings,  quails  may  be  particularly  noticed,  for  the  incredible  quan 
tities  of  them  sacrificed  and  consumed  at  many  of  the  festivals. 

23  The  traditions  of  their  origin  have  somewhat  of  a  fabulous  tinge. 
But,  whether  true  or  false,  they  are  equally  indicative  of  unparalleled 
ferocity  in  the  people  who  could  be  the  subject  of  them.     Clavigero, 
Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  167,  et  seq. ;  also  Humboldt  (who  does 
not  appear  to  doubt  them),  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  95. 

7* 


78  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

till,  at  length,  almost  every  festival  was  closed  with  this 
cruel  abomination.  These  religious  ceremonials  were 
generally  arranged  in  such  a  manner  as  to  afford  a  type 
of  the  most  prominent  circumstances  in  the  character 
or  history  of  the  deity  who  was  the  object  of  them.  A 
single  example  will  suffice. 

One  of  their  most  important  festivals  was  that  in 
honor  of  the  god  Tezcatlipoca,  whose  rank  was  inferior 
only  to  that  of  the  Supreme  Being.  He  was  called 
"the  soul  of  the  world,"  and  supposed  to  have  been 
its  creator.  He  was  depicted  as  a  handsome  man,  en 
dowed  with  perpetual  youth.  A  year  before  the  in 
tended  sacrifice,  a  captive,  distinguished  for  his  personal 
beauty,  and  without  a  blemish  on  his  body,  was  selected 
to  represent  this  deity.  Certain  tutors  took  charge  of 
him,  and  instructed  him  how  to  perform  his  new  part 
with  becoming  grace  and  dignity.  He  was  arrayed  in 
a  splendid  dress,  regaled  with  incense  and  with  a  pro 
fusion  of  sweet-scented  flowers,  of  which  the  ancient 
Mexicans  wrere  as  fond  as  their  descendants  at  the 
present  day.  When  he  went  abroad,  he  was  attended 
by  a  train  of  the  royal  pages,  and,  as  he  halted  in  the 
streets  to  play  some  favorite  melody,  the  crowd  pros 
trated  themselves  before  him,  and  did  him  homage  as 
the  representative  of  their  good  deity.  In  this  way  he 
led  an  easy,  luxurious  life,  till  within  a  month  of  his 
sacrifice.  Four  beautiful  girls,  bearing  the  names  of 
the  principal  goddesses,  were  then  selected  to  share  the 
honors  of  his  bed ;  and  with  them  he  continued  to  live 
in  idle  dalliance,  feasted  at  the  banquets  of  the  principal 
nobles,  who  paid  him  all  the  honors  of  a  divinity. 

At  length  the  fatal  day  of  sacrifice  arrived.     The 


HUMAN  SACRIFICES-  79 

term  of  his  short-lived  glories  was  at  an  end.  He  was 
stripped  of  his  gaudy  apparel,  and  bade  adieu  to  the 
fair  partners  of  his  revelries.  One  of  the  royal  barges 
transported  him  across  the  lake  to  a  temple  which  rose 
on  its  margin,  about  a  league  from  the  city.  Hither 
the  inhabitants  of  the  capital  flocked,  to  witness  the 
consummation  of  the  ceremony.  As  the  sad  proces 
sion  wound  up  the  sides  of  the  pyramid,  the  unhappy 
victim  threw  away  his  gay  chaplets  of  flowers,  and  broke 
in  pieces  the  musical  instruments  with  which  he  had 
solaced  the  hours  of  captivity.  On  the  summit  he  was 
received  by  six  priests,  whose  long  and  matted  locks 
flowed  disorderly  over  their  sable  robes,  covered  with 
hieroglyphic  scrolls  of  mystic  import.  They  led  him 
to  the  sacrificial  stone,  a  huge  block  of  jasper,  with  its 
upper  surface  somewhat  convex.  On  this  the  prisoner 
was  stretched.  Five  priests  secured  his  head  and  his 
limbs ;  while  the  sixth,  clad  in  a  scarlet  mantle,  em 
blematic  of  his  bloody  office,  dexterously  opened  the 
breast  of  the  wretched  victim  with  a  sharp  razor  of 
itztli, — a  volcanic  substance,  hard  as  flint, — and,  in 
serting  his  hand  in  the  wound,  tore  out  the  palpitating 
heart.  The  minister  of  death,  first  holding  this  up 
towards  the  sun,  an  object  of  worship  throughout  Ana- 
huac,  cast  it  at  the  feet  of  the  deity  to  whom  the  temple 
was  devoted,  while  the  multitudes  below  prostrated 
themselves  in  humble  adoration.  The  tragic  story  of 
this  prisoner  was  expounded  by  the  priests  as  the  type 
of  human  destiny,  which,  brilliant  in  its  commence 
ment,  too  often  closes  in  sorrow  and  disaster.24 

24  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  2,  5,  24,  et  alibi.— 
Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  2,  cap.  16. — Torquemada,  Mo- 


So  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

Such  was  the  form  of  human  sacrifice  usually  prac 
tised  by  the  Aztecs.  It  was  the  same  that  often  met 
the  indignant  eyes  of  the  Europeans  in  their  progress 
through  the  country,  and  from  the  dreadful  doom  of 
which  they  themselves  were  not  exempted.  There  were, 
indeed,  some  occasions  when  preliminary  tortures,  of 
the  most  exquisite  kind, — with  which  it  is  unnecessary 
to  shock  the  reader, — were  inflicted,  but  they  always  ter 
minated  with  the  bloody  ceremony  above  described.  It 
should  be  remarked,  however,  that  such  tortures  were  not 
the  spontaneous  suggestions  of  cruelty,  as  with  the  North 
American  Indians,  but  were  all  rigorously  prescribed 
in  the  Aztec  ritual,  and  doubtless  were  often  inflicted 
with  the  same  compunctious  visitings  which  a  devout 
familiar  of  the  Holy  Office  might  at  times  experience 
in  executing  its  stern  decrees.25  Women,  as  well  as  the 

narch.  Ind.,  lib.  7, 'cap.  19  ;  lib.  10,  cap.  14. — Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo, 
ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  307. — Acosta,  lib.  5,  cap.  9-21. — Carta  del 
Lie.  Zuazo,  MS. — Relacion  por  el  Regimiento  de  Vera  Cruz  (Julio, 
1519),  MS. — Few  readers,  probably,  will  sympathize  with  the  sentence 
of  Torquemada,  who  concludes  his  tale  of  woe  by  coolly  dismissing 
"  the  soul  of  the  victim,  to  sleep  with  those  of  his  false  gods,  in  hell !" 
Lib.  10,  cap.  23. 

2S  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  10,  29. — Gomara, 
Cron.,  cap.  219,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. — Toribio,  Hist,  de  los  Indios,  MS., 
Parte  i,  cap.  6-n. — The  reader  will  find  a  tolerably  exact  picture  of 
the  nature  of  these  tortures  in  the  twenty-first  canto  of  the  "  Inferno." 
The  fantastic  creations  of  the  Florentine  poet  were  nearly  realized,  at 
the  very  time  he  was  writing,  by  the  barbarians  of  an  unknown  world. 
One  sacrifice,  of  a  less  revolting  character,  deserves  to  be  mentioned. 
The  Spaniards  called  it  the  "  gladiatorial  sacrifice,"  and  it  may  remind 
one  of  the  bloody  games  of  antiquity.  A  captive  of  distinction  was 
sometimes  furnished  with  arms,  and  brought  against  a  number  of 
Mexicans  in  succession.  If  he  defeated  them  all,  as  did  occasionally 
happen,  he  was  allowed  to  escape.  If  vanquished,  he  was  dragged  to 


HUMAN   SACRIFICES.  8 1 

other  sex,  were  sometimes  reserved  for  sacrifice.  On 
some  occasions,  particularly  in  seasons  of  drought,  at 
the  festival  of  the  insatiable  Tlaloc,  the  god  of  rain, 
children,  for  the  most  part  infants,  were  offered  up. 
As  they  were  borne  along  in  open  litters,  dressed  in 
their  festal  robes,  and  decked  with  the  fresh  blossoms 
of  spring,  they  moved  the  hardest  heart  to  pity,  though 
their  cries  were  drowned  in  the  wild  chant  of  the 
priests,  who  read  in  their  tears  a  favorable  augury  for 
their  petition.  These  innocent  victims  were  generally 
bought  by  the  priests  of  parents  who  were  poor,  but 
who  stifled  the  voice  of  nature,  probably  less  at  the 
suggestions  of  poverty  than  of  a  wretched  superstition.26 
The  most  loathsome  part  of  the  story — the  manner 
in  which  the  body  of  the  sacrificed  captive  was  disposed 
of — remains  yet  to  be  told.  It  was  delivered  to  the 
warrior  who  had  taken  him  in  battle,  and  by  him,  after 
being  dressed,  was  served  up  in  an  entertainment  to  his 
friends.  This  was  not  the  coarse  repast  of  famished 
cannibals,  but  a  banquet  teeming  with  delicious  bever 
ages  and  delicate  viands,  prepared  with  art,  and  attended 
by  both  sexes,  who,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  conducted 
themselves  with  all  the  decorum  of  civilized  life. 
Surely,  never  were  refinement  and  the  extreme  of  bar 
barism  brought  so  closely  in  contact  with  each  other.27 

the  block  and  sacrificed  in  the  usual  manner.  The  combat  was  fought 
on  a  huge  circular  stone,  before  the  assembled  capital.  Sahagun,  Hist, 
de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  21. — Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huoino,  ap. 
Ramusio,  torn,  iii,  fol.  305. 

26  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  I,  4,  21,  et  alibi.— 
Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  10,  cap.  10. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del 
Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  76,  82. 

=7  Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  7, 
D* 


82  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

Human  sacrifices  have  been  practised  by  many  na 
tions,  not  excepting  the  most  polished  nations  of  anti 
quity  ;28  but  never  by  any,  on  a  scale  to  be  compared 
with  those  in  Anahuac.  The  amount  of  victims  immo 
lated  on  its  accursed  altars  would  stagger  the  faith  of 
the  least  scrupulous  believer.  Scarcely  any  author 
pretends  to  estimate  the  yearly  sacrifices  throughout 
the  empire  at  less  than  twenty  thousand,  and  some 
carry  the  number  as  high  as  fifty  thousand  I29 

cap.  19. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  3,  lib.  2,  cap.  17. — Sahagun, 
Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  21,  et  alibi. — Toribio,  Hist,  de 
los  Indios,  MS.,  Parte  i,  cap.  2. 

28  To  say  nothing  of  Egypt,  where,  notwithstanding  the  indications 
on  the  monuments,  there  is  strong  reason  for  doubting  it.  (Comp. 
Herodotus,  Euterpe,  sec.  45.)  It  was  of  frequent  occurrence  among 
the  Greeks,  as  every  schoolboy  knows.  In  Rome,  it  was  so  common 
as  to  require  to  be  interdicted  by  an  express  law,  less  than  a  hundred 
years  before  the  Christian  era, — a  law  recorded  in  a  very  honest  strain 
of  exultation  by  Pliny  (Hist.  Nat.,  lib.  30,  sec.  3,  4)  ;  notwithstand 
ing  which,  traces  of  the  existence  of  the  practice  may  be  discerned 
to  a  much  later  period.  See,  among  others,  Horace,  Epod.,  In 
Canidiam. 

*9  See  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  49. — Bishop  Zumar- 
raga,  in  a  letter  written  a  few  years  after  the  Conquest,  states  that 
20,000  victims  were  yearly  slaughtered  in  the  capital.  Torquemada 
turns  this  into  20,000  infants.  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  7,  cap.  21.)  Her 
rera,  following  Acosta,  says  20,000  victims  on  a  specified  day  of  the 
year,  throughout  the  kingdom.  (Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  2,  cap.  16.) 
Clavigero,  more  cautious,  infers  that  this  number  may  have  been 
sacrificed  annually  throughout  Anahuac.  (Ubi  supra.)  Las  Casas, 
however,  in  his  reply  to  Sepulveda's  assertion,  that  no  one  who  had 
visited  the  New  World  put  the  number  of  yearly  sacrifices  at  less  than 
20,000,  declares  that  "  this  is  the  estimate  of  brigands,  who  wish  to  find 
an  apology  for  their  own  atrocities,  and  that  the  real  number  was  not 
above  50"!  (CEuvres,  ed.  Llorente  (Paris,  1822),  torn.  i.  pp.  365, 
386.)  Probably  the  good  Bishop's  arithmetic  here,  as  in  most  other 
instances,  came  more  from  his  heart  than  his  head.  With  such  loose 


HUMAN  SACRIFICES.  83 

On  great  occasions,  as  the  coronation  of  a  king  or 
the  consecration  of  a  temple,  the  number  becomes 
still  more  appalling.  At  the  dedication  of  the  great 
temple  of  Huitzilopochtli,  in  1486,  the  prisoners,  who 
for  some  years  had  been  reserved  for  the  purpose,  were 
drawn  from  all  quarters  to  the  capital.  They  were 
ranged  in  files,  forming  a  procession  nearly  two  miles 
long.  The  ceremony  consumed  several  days,  and 
seventy  thousand  captives  are  said  to  have  perished  at 
the  shrine  of  this  terrible  deity  !  But  who  can  believe 
that  so  numerous  a  body  would  have  suffered  them 
selves  to  be  led  unresistingly  like  sheep  to  the  slaughter? 
Or  how  could  their  remains,  too  great  for  consumption 
in  the  ordinary  way,  be  disposed  of,  without  breeding 
a  pestilence  in  the  capital?  Yet  the  event  was  of 
recent  date,  and  is  unequivocally  attested  by  the  best- 
informed  historians.30  One  fact  may  be  considered 
certain.  It  was  customary  to  preserve  the  skulls  of  the 
sacrificed,  in  buildings  appropriated  to  the  purpose. 
The  companions  of  Cortes  counted  one  hundred  and 

and  contradictory  data,  it  is  clear  that  any  specific  number  is  mere 
conjecture,  undeserving  the  name  of  calculation. 

3°  I  am  within  bounds.  Torquemada  states  the  number,  most  pre 
cisely,  at  72,344  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  63) ;  Ixtlilxochitl,  with 
equal  precision,  at  80,400.  (Hist.  Chich.,  MS.)  /  Quien  sabe?  The 
latter  adds  that  the  captives  massacred  in  the  capital,  in  the  course  of 
that  memorable  year,  exceeded  100,000!  (Loc.  cit.)  One,  however, 
has  to  read  but  a  little  way,  to  find  out  that  the  science  of  numbers 
— at  least  where  the  party  was  not  an  eyewitness — is  anything  but 
an  exact  science  with  these  ancient  chroniclers.  The  Codex  Telleri- 
ano-Remensis,  written  some  fifty  years  after  the  Conquest,  reduces  the 
amount  to  20,000.  (Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI.  19;  vol.  vi.  p.  141, 
Eng.  note.)  Even  this  hardly  warrants  the  Spanish  interpreter  !in 
calling  king  Ahuitzotl  a  man  "  of  a  mild  and  moderate  disposition," 
templada  y  benigna  condition  !  Ibid.,  vol.  v.  p.  49. 


84  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

thirty-six  thousand  in  one  of  these  edifices  !3t  Without 
attempting  a  precise  calculation,  therefore,  it  is  safe  to 
conclude  that  thousands  were  yearly  offered  up,  in  the 
different  cities  of  Anahuac,  on  the  bloody  altars  of  the 
Mexican  divinities.33 

Indeed,  the  great  object  of  war,  with  the  Aztecs, 
was  quite  as  much  to  gather  victims  for  their  sacrifices 
as  to  extend  their  empire.  Hence  it  was  that  an  enemy 
was  never  slain  in  battle,  if  there  were  a  chance  of 
taking  him  alive.  To  this  circumstance  the  Spaniards 
repeatedly  owed  their  preservation.  When  Montezuma 
was  asked  "why  he  had  suffered  the  republic  of  Tlas- 
cala  to  maintain  her  independence  on  his  borders,"  he 
replied,  "that  she  might  furnish  him  with  victims  for 
his  gods"  !  As  the  supply  began  to  fail,  the  priests, 
the  Dominicans  of  the  New  World,  bellowed  aloud  for 
more,  and  urged  on  their  superstitious  sovereign  by 
the  denunciations  of  celestial  wrath.  Like  the  militant 
churchmen  of  Christendom  in  the  Middle  Ages,  they 
mingled  themselves  in  the  ranks,  and  were  conspicuous 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  by  their  hideous  aspect  and 
frantic  gestures.  Strange,  that,  in  every  country,  the 

3'  Gomara  states  the  number  on  the  authority  of  two  soldiers,  whose 
names  he  gives,  who  took  the  trouble  to  count  the  grinning  horrors 
in  one  of  these  Golgothas,  where  they  were  so  arranged  as  to  produce 
the  most  hideous  effect.  The  existence  of  these  conservatories  is 
attested  by  every  writer  of  the  time. 

32  The  "  Anonymous  Conqueror"  assures  us,  as  a  fact  beyond  dis 
pute,  that  the  Devil  introduced  himself  into  the  bodies  of  the  idols, 
and  persuaded  the  silly  priests  that  his  only  diet  was  human  hearts  t 
It  furnishes  a  very  satisfactory  solution,  to  his  mind,  of  the  frequency 
of  sacrifices  in  Mexico.  Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn, 
iii.  fol.  307. 


HUMAN  SACRIFICES.  85 

most  fiendish  passions  of  the  human  heart  have  been 
those  kindled  in  the  name  of  religion  ! 33 

The  influence  of  these  practices  on  the  Aztec  char 
acter  was  as  disastrous  as  might  have  been  expected. 
Familiarity  with  the  bloody  rites  of  sacrifice  steeled 
the  heart  against  human  sympathy,  and  begat  a  thirst 
for  carnage,  like  that  excited  in  the  Romans  by  the 
exhibitions  of  the  circus.  The  perpetual  recurrence 
of  ceremonies,  in  which  the  people  took  part,  asso 
ciated  religion  with  their  most  intimate  concerns,  and 
spread  the  gloom  of  superstition  over  the  domestic 
hearth,  until  the  character  of  the  nation  wore  a  grave 
and  even  melancholy  aspect,  which  belongs  to  their 
descendants  at  the  present  day.  The  influence  of  the 
priesthood,  of  course,  became  unbounded.  The  sov 
ereign  thought  himself  honored  by  being  permitted  to 
assist  in  the  services  of  the  temple.  Far  from  limiting 
the  authority  of-  the  priests  to  spiritual  matters,  he 
often  surrendered  his  opinion  to  theirs,  where  they 

33  The  Tezcucan  priests  would  fain  have  persuaded  the  good  king 
Nezahualcoyotl,  on  occasion  of  a  pestilence,  to  appease  the  gods  by 
the  sacrifice  of  some  of  his  own  subjects,  instead  of  his  enemies ;  on 
the  ground  that  they  would  not  only  be  obtained  more  easily,  but 
would  be  fresher  victims,  and  more  acceptable.  (Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist. 
Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  41.)  This  writer  mentions  a  cool  arrangement 
entered  into  by  the  allied  monarchs  with  the  republic  of  Tlascala  and 
her  confederates.  A  battle-field  was  marked  out,  on  which  the  troops 
of  the  hostile  nations  were  to  engage  at  stated  seasons,  and  thus  supply 
themselves  with  subjects  for  sacrifice.  The  victorious  party  was  not 
to  pursue  his  advantage  by  invading  the  other's  territory,  and  they 
were  to  continue,  in  all  other  respects,  on  the  most  amicable  footing. 
(Ubi  supra.)  The  historian,  who  follows  in  the  track  of  the  Tezcucan 
Chronicler,  may  often  find  occasion  to  shelter  himself,  like  Ariosto, 

with 

"  Mettendolo  Turpin,  lo  metto  anch'  io." 

VOL.  I.  8 


86  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION', 

were  least  competent  to  give  it.  It  was  their  opposi 
tion  that  prevented  the  final  capitulation  which  would 
have  saved  the  capital.  The  whole  nation,  from  the 
peasant  to  the  prince,  bowed  their  necks  to  the  worst 
kind  of  tyranny,  that  of  a  blind  fanaticism, 

In  reflecting  on  the  revolting  usages  recorded  in  the 
preceding  pages,  one  finds  it  difficult  to  reconcile  their 
existence  with  anything  like  a  regular  form  of  govern 
ment,  or  an  advance  in  civilization.34  Yet  the  Mex- 

34  [Don  Jose  F.  Ramirez,  the  distinguished  Me:xican  scholar,  has 
made  this  sentence  the  text  for  a  disquisition  of  fifty  pages  or  more, 
one  object  of  which  is  to  show  that  the  existence  of  human  sacrifices 
is  not  irreconcilable  with  an  advance  in  civilization.  This  leads  him 
into  an  argument  of  much  length,  covering  a  broad  range  of  historical 
inquiry,  and  displaying  much  learning  as  well  as  a  careful  considera 
tion  of  the  subject.  In  one  respect,  however,  he  has  been  led  into  an 
important  error  by  misunderstanding  the  drift  of  my  remarks,  where, 
speaking  of  cannibalism,  I  say,  "  It  is  impossible  the  people  who 
practise  it  should  make  any  great  progress  in  moral  or  intellectual 
culture"  (p.  88).  This~  observation,  referring  solely  to  cannibalism, 
the  critic  cites  as  if  applied  by  me  to  human  sacrifices.  Whatever 
force,  therefore,  his  reasoning  may  have  in  respect  to  the  latter,  it 
cannot  be  admitted  to  apply  to  the  former.  The  distance  is  wide 
between  human  sacrifices  and  cannibalism  ;  though  Senor  Ramirez 
diminishes  this  distance  by  regarding  both  one  and  the  .other  simply 
as  religious  exercises,  springing  from  the  devotional  principle  in  our 
nature.*  He  enforces  his  views  by  a  multitude  of  examples  from 
history,  which  show  how  extensively  these  revolting  usages  of  the 
Aztecs — on  a  much  less  gigantic  scale  indeed — have  been  practised 
by  the  primitive  races  of  the  Old  World,  some  of  whom,  at  a  later 
period,  made  high  advances  in  civilization.  Ramirez,  Notas  y  Escla- 


*  [The  practice  of  eating,  or  tasting,  the  victim  has  been  generally 
associated  with  sacrifice,  from  the  idea  either  of  the  sacredness  of  the 
offering  or  of  the  deity's  accepting  the  soul,  the  immaterial  part,  or 
the  blood  as  containing  the  principle  of  life  and  leaving  the  flesh  to 
his  worshippers. — ED.] 


HUMAN   SACRIFICES.  87 

icans  had  many  claims  to  the  character  of  a  civilized 
community.  One  may,  perhaps,  better  understand 
the  anomaly,  by  reflecting  on  the  condition  of  some 
of  the  most  polished  countries  in  Europe  in  the  six 
teenth  century,  after  the  establishment  of  the  modern 
Inquisition, — an  institution  which  yearly  destroyed  its 
thousands,  by  a  death  more  painful  than  the  Aztec 
sacrifices ;  which  armed  the  hand  of  brother  against 
brother,  and,  setting  its  burning  seal  upon  the  lip,  did 
more  to  stay  the  march  of  improvement  than  any  other 
scheme  ever  devised  by  human  cunning. 

Human  sacrifice,  however  cruel,  has  nothing  in  it 
degrading  to  its  victim.  It  may  be  rather  said  to  en 
noble  him  by  devoting  him  to  the  gods.  Although 
so  terrible  with  the  Aztecs,  it  was  sometimes  volun 
tarily  embraced  by  them,  as  the  most  glorious  death 
and  one  that  opened  a  sure  passage  into  paradise.35 
The  Inquisition,  on  the  other  hand,  branded  its  vic 
tims  with  infamy  in  this  world,  and  consigned  them  to 
everlasting  perdition  in  the  next. 

One  detestable  feature  of  the  Aztec  superstition, 
however,  sunk  it  far  below  the  Christian.  This  was 
its  cannibalism  ;  though,  in  truth,  the  Mexicans  were 
not  cannibals  in  the  coarsest  acceptation  of  the  term. 
They  did  not  feed  on  human  flesh  merely  to  gratify  a 

recimientos  &  la  Historia  del  Conquista  de  Mexico  del  Senor  W. 
Prcscott,  appended  to  Navarro's  translation.] 

35  Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  307. — Among 
other  instances  is  that  of  Chimalpopoca,  third  king  of  Mexico,  who 
doomed  himself,  with  a  number  of  his  lords,  to  this  death,  to  wipe 
off  an  indignity  offered  him  by  a  brother  monarch.  (Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  28.)  This  was  the  law  of  honor  with  the 
Aztecs. 


88  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION-. 

brutish  appetite,  but  in  obedience  to  their  religion. 
Their  repasts  were  made  of  the  victims  whose  blood 
had  been  poured  out  on  the  altar  of  sacrifice.  This  is 
a  distinction  worthy  of  notice.36  Still,  cannibalism, 
under  any  form  or  whatever  sanction,  cannot  but  have 
a  fatal  influence  on  the  nation  addicted  to  it.  It  sug 
gests  ideas  so  loathsome,  so  degrading  to  man,  to  his 
spiritual  and  immortal  nature,  that  it  is  impossible  the 
people  who  practise  it  should  make  any  great  progress 
in  moral  or  intellectual  culture.  The  Mexicans  furnish 
no  exception  to  this  remark.  The  civilization  which 
they  possessed  descended  from  the  Toitecs,  a  race  who 
never  stained  their  altars,  still  less  their  banquets,  with 
the  blood  of  man.37  All  that  deserved  the  name  of 
science  in  Mexico  came  from  this  source ;  and  the 
crumbling  ruins  of  edifices  attributed  to  them,  still 
extant  in  various  parts  of  New  Spain,  show  a  decided 
superiority  in  their  architecture  over  that  of  the  later 

36  Voltaire,  doubtless,  intends  this,  when  he  says,  "  Us  n'etaient 
point  anthropophages,  comme  un   tres-petit  nombre  de  peuplades 
Americaines."     (Essai  sur  les  Moeurs,  chap.  147.) 

37  [The  remark  in  the  text  admits  of  some  qualification.     According 
to  an  ancient  Tezcucan  chronicler,  quoted  by  Sefior  Ramirez,  the 
Toitecs  celebrated  occasionally  the  worship  of  the  god  Tlaloc  with 
human  sacrifices.     The  most  important  of  these  was  the  offering  up 
once  a  year  of  five  or  six  maidens,  who  were  immolated  in  the  usual 
horrid  way  of  tearing  out  their  hearts.      It  does  not  appear  that  the 
Toitecs  consummated  the  sacrifice  by  devouring  the  flesh  of  the  victim. 
This  seems  to  have  been  the  only  exception  to  the  blameless  character 
of  the  Toltec  rites.     Tlaloc  was  the  oldest  deity  in  the  Aztec  mythol 
ogy,  in  which  he  found  a  suitable  place.    Yet,  as  the  knowledge  of  him 
was  originally  derived  from  the  Toitecs,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  this 
people,  as  Ramirez  says,  possessed  in  their  peculiar  civilization  the 
germs  of  those  sanguinary  institutions  which  existed  on  so  appalling  a 
scale  in  Mexico.     See  Ramirez,  Notas  y  Esclarecimientos,  ubi  supra.] 


HUMAN  SACRIFICES.  89 

races  of  Anahuac.  It  is  true,  the  Mexicans  made  great 
proficiency  in  many  of  the  social  and  mechanic  arts, 
in  that  material  culture, — if  I  may  so  call  it, — the  natu 
ral  growth  of  increasing  opulence,  which  ministers  to 
the  gratification  of  the  senses.  In  purely  intellectual 
progress  they  were  behind  the  Tezcucans,  whose  wise 
sovereigns  came  into  the  abominable  rites  of  their 
neighbors  with  reluctance  and  practised  them  on  a 
much  more  moderate  scale.38 

In  this  state  of  things,  it  was  beneficently  ordered 
by  Providence  that  the  land  should  be  delivered  over 
to  another  race,  who  would  rescue  it  from  the  brutish 
superstitions  that  daily  extended  wider  and  wider  with 
extent  of  empire.39  The  debasing  institutions  of  the 
Aztecs  furnish  the  best  apology  for  their  conquest.  It 
is  true,  the  conquerors  brought  along  with  them  the 
Inquisition.  But  they  also  brought  Christianity,  whose 
benign  radiance  would  still  survive  when  the  fierce 
flames  of  fanaticism  should  be  extinguished ;  dispelling 
those  dark  forms  of  horror  which  had  so  long  brooded 
over  the  fair  region  of  Anahuac. 

38  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  45,  et  alibi. 

39  No  doubt  the  ferocity  of  character  engendered  by  their  sangui 
nary  rites  greatly  facilitated  their  conquests.     Machiavelli  attributes 
to  a  similar  cause,  in  part,  the  military  successes  of  the    Romans. 
(Discorsi  sopra  T.  Livio,  lib.  2,  cap.  2.)     The  same  chapter  contains 
some  ingenious  reflections — much  more  ingenious  than  candid — on 
the  opposite  tendencies  of  Christianity. 


The  most  important  authority  in  the  preceding  chapter,  and,  in 
deed,  wherever  the  Aztec  religion  is  concerned,  is  Bernardino  de 
Sahagun,  a  Franciscan  friar,  contemporary  with  the  Conquest.  His 
great  work,  Historia  universal  de  Nueva- Expand,  has  been  recently 
printed  for  the  first  time.  The  circumstances  attending  its  compila- 


9o  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

tion  and  subsequent  fate  form  one  of  the  most  remarkable  passages 
in  literary  history. 

Sahagun  was  born  in  a  place  of  the  same  name,  in  old  Spain.  He 
was  educated  at  Salamanca,  and,  having  taken  the  vows  of  St.  Fran 
cis,  came  over  as  a  missionary  to  Mexico  in  the  year  1529.  Here  he 
distinguished  himself  by  his  zeal,  the  purity  of  his  life,  and  his  un 
wearied  exertions  to  spread  the  great  truths  of  religion  among  the 
natives.  He  was  the  guardian  of  several  conventual  houses,  succes 
sively,  until  he  relinquished  these  cares,  that  he  might  devote  himself 
more  unreservedly  to  the  business  of  preaching,  and  of  compiling 
various  works  designed  to  illustrate  the  antiquities  of  the  Aztecs.  For 
these  literary  labors  he  found  some  facilities  in  the  situation  which  he 
continued  to  occupy,  of  reader,  or  lecturer,  in  the  College  of  Santa 
Cruz,  in  the  capital. 

The  "  Universal  History"  was  concocted  in  a  singular  manner.  In 
order  to  secure  to  it  the  greatest  possible  authority,  he  passed  some 
years  in  a  Tezcucan  town,  where  he  conferred  daily  with  a  number 
of  respectable  natives  unacquainted  with  Castilian.  He  propounded 
to  them  queries,  which  they,  after  deliberation,  answered  in  their 
usual  method  of  writing,  by  hieroglyphical  paintings.  These  he  sub 
mitted  to  other  natives,  who  had  been  educated  under  his  own  eye  in 
the  College  of  Santa  Cruz  ;  and  the  latter,  after  a  consultation  among 
themselves,  gave  a  written  version,  in  the  Mexican  tongue,  of  the 
hieroglyphics.  This  process  he  repeated  in  another  place,  in  some 
part  of  Mexico,  and  subjected  the  whole  to  a  still  further  revision  by 
a  third  body  in  another  quarter.  He  finally  arranged  the  combined 
results  into  a  regular  history,  in  the  form  it  now  bears  ;  composing  it 
in  the  Mexican  language,  which  he  could  both  write  a-nd  speak  with 
great  accuracy  and  elegance, — greater,  indeed,  than  any  Spaniard  of 
the  time. 

The  work  presented  a  mass  of  curious  information,  that  attracted 
much  attention  among  his  brethren.  But  they  feared  its  influence  in 
keeping  alive  in  the  natives  a  too  vivid  reminiscence  of  the  very  super 
stitions  which  it  was  the  great  object  of  the  Christian  clergy  to  eradi 
cate.  Sahagun  had  views  more  liberal  than  those  of  his  order,  whose 
blind  zeal  would  willingly  have  annihilated  every  monument  of  art 
and  human  ingenuity  which  had  not  been  produced  under  the  influ 
ence  of  Christianity.  They  refused  to  allow  him  the  necessary  aid  to 
transcribe  his  papers,  which  he  had  been  so  many  years  in  preparing, 
under  the  pretext  that  the  expense  was  too  great  for  their  order  to 


S AH  A  GUN.  9I 

incur.  This  occasioned  a  further  delay  of  several  years.  What  was 
worse,  his  provincial  got  possession  of  his  manuscripts,  which  were 
soon  scattered  among  the  different  religious  houses  in  the  country. 

In  this  forlorn  state  of  his  affairs,  Sahagun  drew  up  a  brief  state 
ment  of  the  nature  and  contents  of  his  work,  and  forwarded  it  to 
Madrid.  It  fell  into  the  hands  of  Don  Juan  de  Ovando,  president  of 
the  Council  for  the  Indies,  who  was  so  much  interested  in  it  that  he 
ordered  the  manuscripts  to  be  restored  to  their  author,  with  the  re 
quest  that  he  would  at  once  set  about  translating  them  into  Castilian. 
This  was  accordingly  done.  His  papers  were  recovered,  though  not 
without  the  menace  of  ecclesiastical  censures ;  and  the  octogenarian 
author  began  the  work  of  translation  from  the  Mexican,  in  which  they 
had  been  originally  written  by  him  thirty  years  before.  He  had  the 
satisfaction  to  complete  the  task,  arranging  the  Spanish  version  in  a 
parallel  column  with  the  original,  and  adding  a  vocabulary,  explaining 
the  difficult  Aztec  terms  and  phrases  ;  while  the  text  was  supported 
by  the  numerous  paintings  on  which  it  was  founded.  In  this  form, 
making  two  bulky  volumes  in  folio,  it  was  sent  to  Madrid.  There 
seemed  now  to  be  no  further  reason  for  postponing  its  publication, 
the  importance  of  which  could  not  be  doubted.  But  from  this 
moment  it  disappears  ;  and  we  hear  nothing  further  of  it,  for  more 
than  two  centuries,  except  only  as  a  valuable  work,  which  had  once 
existed  and  was  probably  buried  in  some  one  of  the  numerous  ceme 
teries  of  learning  in  which  Spain  abounds. 

At  length,  towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  the  indefatigable 
Munoz  succeeded  in  disinterring  the  long-lost  manuscript  from  the 
place  tradition  had  assigned  to  it, — the  library  of  a  convent  at  Tolosa, 
in  Navarre,  the  northern  extremity  of  Spain.  With  his  usual  ardor, 
he  transcribed  the  whole  work  with  his  own  hands,  and  added  it  to  the 
inestimable  collection,  of  which,  alas  !  he  was  destined  not  to  reap  the 
full  benefit  himself.  From  this  transcript  Lord  Kingsborough  was 
enabled  to  procure  the  copy  which  was  published  in  1830,  in  the  sixth 
volume  of  his  magnificent  compilation.  In  it  he  expresses  an  honest 
satisfaction  at  being  the  first  to  give  Sahagun 's  works  to  the  world. 
But  in  this  supposition  he  was  mistaken.  The  very  year  preceding, 
an  edition  of  it,  with  annotations,  appeared  in  Mexico,  in  three  vol 
umes  octavo.  It  was  prepared  by  Bustamante, — a  scholar  to  whose 
editorial  activity  his  country  is  largely  indebted, — from  a  copy  of  the 
Munoz  manuscript  which  came  into  his  possession.  Thus  this  re 
markable  work,  which  was  denied  the  honors  of  the  press  during  the 


9  2  SAHAGUN. 

author's  lifetime,  after  passing  into  oblivion,  reappeared,  at  the  dis 
tance  of  nearly  three  centuries,  not  in  his  own  country,  but  in  foreign 
lands  widely  remote  from  each  other,  and  that  almost  simultaneously. 
The  story  is  extraordinary,  though  unhappily  not  so  extraordinary 
in  Spain  as  it  would  be  elsewhere. 

Sahagun  divided  his  history  into  twelve  books.  The  first  eleven 
are  occupied  with  the  social  institutions  of  Mexico,  and  the  last  with 
the  Conquest.  On  the  religion  of  the  country  he  is  particularly  full. 
His  great  object  evidently  was,  to  give  a  clear  view  of  its  mythology, 
and  of  the  burdensome  ritual  which  belonged  to  it.  Religion  entered 
so  intimately  into  the  most  private  concerns  and  usages  of  the  Aztecs, 
that  Sahagun's  work  must  be  a  text-book  for  every  student  of  their 
antiquities.  Torquemada  availed  himself  of  a  manuscript  copy ,  which 
fell  into  his  hands  before  it  was  sent  to  Spain,  to  enrich  his  own  pages, 
— a  circumstance  more  fortunate  for  his  readers  than  for  Sahagun's 
reputation,  whose  work,  now  that  it  is  published,  loses  much  of  the 
originality  and  interest  which  would  otherwise  attach  to  it.  In  one 
respect  it  is  invaluable ;  as  presenting  a  complete  collection  of  the 
various  forms  of  prayer,  accommodated  to  every  possible  emergency, 
in  use  by  the  Mexicans.  They  are  often  clothed  in  dignified  and 
beautiful  language,  showing  that  sublime  speculative  tenets  are  quite 
compatible  with  the  most  degrading  practices  of  superstition.  It  is 
much  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  not  the  eighteen  hymns  inserted 
by  the  author  in  his  book,  which  would  have  particular  interest,  as 
the  only  specimen  of  devotional  poetry  preserved  of  the  Aztecs.  The 
hieroglyphical  paintings,  which  accompanied  the  text,  are  also  miss 
ing.  If  they  have  escaped  the  hands  of  fanaticism,  both  may  re 
appear  at  some  future  day. 

Sahagun  produced  several  other  works,  of  a  religious  or  philologi 
cal  character.  Some  of  these  were  voluminous,  but  none  have  been 
printed,  He  lived  to  a  very  advanced  age,  closing  a  life  of  activity 
and  usefulness,  in  1590,  in  the  capital  of  Mexico.  His  remains  were 
followed  to  the  tomb  by  a  numerous  concourse  of  his  own  country 
men,  and  of  the  natives,  who  lamented  in  him  the  loss  of  unaffected 
piety,  benevolence,  and  learning. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

MEXICAN     HIEROGLYPHICS.  MANUSCRIPTS. ARITHME- 

TIC. CHRONOLOGY. ASTRONOMY. 

IT  is  a  relief  to  turn  from  the  gloomy  pages  of  the 
preceding  chapter  to  a  brighter  side  of  the  picture, 
and  to  contemplate  the  same  nation  in  its  generous 
struggle  to  raise  itself  from  a  state  of  barbarism  and  to 
take  a  positive  rank  in  the  scale  of  civilization.  It  is 
not  the  less  interesting,  that  these  efforts  were  made  on 
an  entirely  new  theatre  of  action,  apart  from  those  in 
fluences  that  operate  in  the  Old  World  ;  the  inhabitants 
of  which,  forming  one  great  brotherhood  of  nations, 
are  knit  together  by  sympathies  that  make  the  faintest 
spark  of  knowledge,  struck  out  in  one  quarter,  spread 
gradually  wider  and  wider,  until  it  has  diffused  a  cheering 
light  over  the  remotest.  It  is  curious  to  observe  the 
human  mind,  in  this  new  position,  conforming  to  the 
same  laws  as  on  the  ancient  continent,  and  taking  a  sim 
ilar  direction  in  its  first  inquiries  after  truth, — so  similar, 
indeed,  as,  although  not  warranting,  perhaps,  the  idea 
of  imitation,  to  suggest  at  least  that  of  a  common  origin. 

In  the  Eastern  hemisphere  we  find  some  nations,  as 
the  Greeks,  for  instance,  early  smitten  with  such  a  love 
of  the  beautiful  as  to  be  unwilling  to  dispense  with  it 
even  in  the  graver  productions  of  science ;  and  other 
nations,  again,  proposing  a  severer  end  to  themselves, 

(93) 


94  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

to  which  even  imagination  and  elegant  art  were  made 
subservient.  The  productions  of  such  a  people  must 
be  criticised,  not  by  the  ordinary  rules  of  taste,  but. 
by  their  adaptation  to  the  peculiar  end  for  which  they 
were  designed.  Such  were  the  Egyptians  in  the  Old 
World,1  and  the  Mexicans  in  the  New.  We  have 
already  had  occasion  to  notice  the  resemblance  borne 
by  the  latter  nation  to  the  former  in  their  religious 
economy.  We  shall  be  more  struck  with  it  in  their 
scientific  culture,  especially  their  hieroglyphical  writing 
and  their  astronomy. 

To  describe  actions  and  events  by  delineating  visible 
objects  seems  to  be  a  natural  suggestion,  and  is  practised, 
after  a  certain  fashion,  by  the  rudest  savages.  The  North 
American  Indian  carves  an  arrow  on  the  bark  of  trees 
to  show  his  followers  the  direction  of  his  march,  and 
some  other  sign  to  show  the  success  of  his  expeditions, 
But  to  paint  intelligibly  a  consecutive  series  of  these 
actions — forming  what  Warburton  has  happily  called 
picture-writing2 — requires  a  combination  of  ideas  that 
amounts  to  a  positively  intellectual  effort.  Yet  further, 
when  the  object  of  the  painter,  instead  of  being  limited 

1  "  An  Egyptian  temple,"  says  Denon,  strikingly,  "  is  an  open  vol 
ume,  in  which  the  teachings  of  science,  morality,  and  the  arts  are 
recorded.  Every  thing  seems  to  speak  one  and  the  same  language, 
and  breathes  one  and  the  same  spirit."  The  passage  is  cited  by 
Heeren,  Hist.  Res.,  vol.  v.  p.  178. 

8  Divine  Legation,  ap.  Works  (London,  1811),  vol.  iv.  b.  4,  sec.  4. 
— The  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  in  his  comparison  of  the  various  hiero 
glyphical  systems  of  the  world,  shows  his  characteristic  sagacity  and 
boldness  by  announcing  opinions  little  credited  then,  though  since 
established.  He  affirmed  the  existence  of  an  Egyptian  alphabet,  but 
was  not  aware  of  the  phonetic  property  of  hieroglyphics, — the  great 
literary  discovery  of  our  age. 


MEXICAN  HIEROGLYPHICS.  95 

to  the  present,  is  to  penetrate  the  past,  and  to  gather 
from  its  dark  recesses  lessons  of  instruction  for  coming 
generations,  we  see  the  dawnings  of  a  literary  culture, 
and  recognize  the  proof  of  a  decided  civilization  in 
the  attempt  itself,  however  imperfectly  it  may  be  exe 
cuted.  The  literal  imitation  of  objects  will  not  answer 
for  this  more  complex  and  extended  plan.  It  would 
occupy  too  much  space,  as  well  as  time  in  the  execu 
tion.  It  then  becomes  necessary  to  abridge  the  pictures, 
to  confine  the  drawing  to  outlines,  or  to  such  prominent 
parts  of  the  bodies  delineated  as  may  readily  suggest  the 
whole.  This  is  the  representative  or  figurative  writing, 
which  forms  the  lowest  stage  of  hieroglyphics. 

But  there  are  things  which  have  no  type  in  the 
material  world ;  abstract  ideas,  which  can  only  be 
represented  by  visible  objects  supposed  to  have  some 
quality  analogous  to  the  idea  intended.  This  consti 
tutes  symbolical  writing,  the  most  difficult  of  all  to  the 
interpreter,  since  the  analogy  between  the  material  and 
immaterial  object  is  often  purely  fanciful,  or  local  in  its 
application.  Who,  for  instance,  could  suspect  the  asso 
ciation  which  made  a  beetle  represent  the  universe,  as 
with  the  Egyptians,  or  a  serpent  typify  time,  as  with 
the  Aztecs? 

The  third  and  last  division  is  the  phonetic,  in  which 
signs  are  made  to  represent  sounds,  either  entire  words, 
or  parts  of  them.  This  is  the  nearest  approach  of  the 
hieroglyphical  series  to  that  beautiful  invention,  the 
alphabet,  by  which  language  is  resolved  into  its  ele 
mentary  sounds,  and  an  apparatus  supplied  for  easily 
and  accurately  expressing  the  most  delicate  shades  of 
thought. 


9 6  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

The  Egyptians  were  well  skilled  in  all  three  kinds 
of  hieroglyphics.  But,  although  their  public  monu 
ments  display  the  first  class,  in  their  ordinary  inter 
course  and  written  records  it  is  now  certain  that  they 
almost  wholly  relied  on  the  phonetic  character.  Strange 
that,  having  thus  broken  down  the  thin  partition  which 
divided  them  from  an  alphabet,  their  latest  monuments 
should  exhibit  no  nearer  approach  to  it  than  their 
earliest.3  The  Aztecs,  also,  were  acquainted  with  the 
several  varieties  of  hieroglyphics.  But  they  relied  on 
the  figurative  infinitely  more  than  on  the  others.  The 
Egyptians  were  at  the  top  of  the  scale,  the  Aztecs  at 
the  bottom. 

In  casting  the  eye  over  a  Mexican  manuscript,  or 
map,  as  it  is  called,  one  is  struck  with  the  grotesque 
caricatures  it  exhibits  of  the  human  figure  ;  monstrous, 
overgrown  heads,  on  puny,  misshapen  bodies,  which 
are  themselves  hard  and  angular  in  their  outlines,  and 
without  the  least  skill  in  composition.  On  closer 
inspection,  however,  it  is  obvious  that  it  is  not  so 
much  a  rude  attempt  to  delineate  nature,  as  a  conven 
tional  symbol,  to  express  the  idea  in  the.  most  clear 
and  forcible  manner;  in  the  same  way  as  the  pieces 

3  It  appears  that  the  hieroglyphics  on  the  most  recent  monuments 
of  Egypt  contain  no  larger  infusion  of  phonetic  characters  than  those 
which  existed  eighteen  centuries  before  Christ;  showing  no  advance, 
in  this  respect,  for  twenty-two  hundred  years!  (See  Champollion, 
Precis  du  Systeme  hieroglyphique  des  anciens  Egyptiens  (Paris,  1824), 
pp.  242,  281.)  It  may  seem  more  strange  that  the  enchorial  alphabet, 
so  much  more  commodious,  should  not  have  been  substituted.  But 
the  Egyptians  were  familiar  with  their  hieroglyphics  from  infancy, 
which,  moreover,  took  the  fancies  of  the  most  illiterate,  probably  in 
the  same  manner  as  cur  children  are  attracted  and  taught  by  the 
picture-alphabets  in  an  ordinary  spelling-book. 


MEXICAN  HIEROGLYPHICS. 


97 


of  similar  value  on  a  chess-board,  while  they  corre 
spond  with  one  another  in  form,  bear  little  resemblance, 
usually,  to  the  objects  they  represent.  Those  parts 
of  the  figure  are  most  distinctly  traced  which  are  the 
most  important.  So,  also,  the  coloring,  instead  of  the 
delicate  gradations  of  nature,  exhibits  only  gaudy  and 
violent  contrasts,  such  as  may  produce  the  most  vivid 
impression.  "For  even  colors,"  as  Gama  observes, 
"speak  in  the  Aztec  hieroglyphics."  4 

But  in  the  execution  of  all  this  the  Mexicans  were 
much  inferior  to  the  Egyptians.  The  drawings  of  the 
latter,  indeed,  are  exceedingly  defective,  when  criti 
cised  by  the  rules  of  art ;  for  they  were  as  ignorant 
of  perspective  as  the  Chinese,  and  only  exhibited  the 
head  in  profile,  with  the  eye  in  the  centre,  and  with 
total  absence  of  expression.  But  they  handled  the 
pencil  more  gracefully  than  the  Aztecs,  were  more 
true  to  the  natural  forms  of  objects,  and,  above  all, 
showed  great  superiority  in  abridging  the  original 
figure  by  giving  only  the  outline,  or  some  character 
istic  or  essential  feature.  This  simplified  the  process, 
and  facilitated  the  communication  of  thought.  An 
Egyptian  text  has  almost  the  appearance  of  alphabet 
ical  writing  in  its  regular  lines  of  minute  figures.  A 
Mexican  text  looks  usually  like  a  collection  of  pictures, 
each  one  forming  the  subject  of  a  separate  study.  This 
is  particularly  the  case  with  the  delineations  of  mythol 
ogy;  in  which  the  story  is  told  by  a  conglomeration 
of  symbols,  that  may  remind  one  more  of  the  mys- 

4  Descripcion  historica  y  cronologica  de  las  Dos  Piedras  (Mexico, 
1832),  Parte  2,  p.  39. 

VOL.  I. — E  9 


98  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

terious  anaglyphs  sculptured  on  the  temples  of  the 
Egyptians,  than  of  their  written  records. 

The  Aztecs  had  various  emblems  for  expressing 
such  things  as,  from  their  nature,  could  not  be  di 
rectly  represented  by  the  painter ;  as,  for  example,  the 
years,  months,  days,  the  seasons,  the  elements,  the 
heavens,  and  the  like.  A  "tongue"  denoted  speak 
ing;  a  "footprint,"  travelling;  a  "man  sitting  on  the 
ground,"  an  earthquake.  These  symbols  were  often 
very  arbitrary,  varying  with  the  caprice  of  the  writer ; 
and  it  requires  a  nice  discrimination  to  interpret  them, 
as  a  slight  change  in  the  form  or  position  of  the  figure 
intimated  a  very  different  meaning.3  An  ingenious 
writer  asserts  that  the  priests  devised  secret  symbolic 
characters  for  the  record  of  their  religious  mysteries. 
It  is  possible.  But  the  researches  of  Champollion  lead 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  similar  opinion  formerly 
entertained  respecting  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  is 
without  foundation.6 

Lastly,  they  employed,    as    above    stated,  phonetic 

5  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  pp.  32,  44. — Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  7. — 
The  continuation  of  Gama's  work,  recently  edited  by  Bustamante, 
in  Mexico,  contains,  among  other  things,  some  interesting  remarks 
on  the  Aztec  hieroglyphics.     The  editor  has  rendered  a  good  service 
by  this  further  publication  of  the  writings  of  this  estimable  scholar, 
who  has  done  more  than  any  of  his  countrymen  to  explain  the  mys 
teries  of  Aztec  science. 

6  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  p.  32. — Warburton,  with  his  usual 
penetration,   rejects   the   idea  of   mystery   in    the   figurative   hiero 
glyphics.     (Divine  Legation,  b.  4,  sec.  4.)       If  there  was  any  mys 
tery  reserved    for   the    initiated,  Champollion    thinks  it   may  have 
been  the   system  of  the   anaglyphs.      (Precis,  p.  360.)      Why  may 
not  this  be  true,  likewise,  of  the  monstrous  symbolical  combinations 
which  represented  the  Mexican  deities  ? 


MEXICAN   IIIER OGLl TIIICS. 


99 


signs,  though  these  were  chiefly  confined  to  the  names 
of  persons  and  places ;  which,  being  derived  from  some 
circumstance  or  characteristic  quality,  were  accom 
modated  to  the  hieroglyphical  system.  Thus,  the  town 
Cimatlan  was  compounded  of  ciinatl,  a  "root,"  which 
grew  near  it,  and  tlan,  signifying  "near;"  Tlaxcallan 
meant  "the  place  of  bread,"  from  its  rich  fields  of 
corn  ;  Huexotzinco,  "  a  place  surrounded  by  willows." 
The  names  of  persons  were  often  significant  of  their 
adventures  and  achievements.  That  of  the  great  Tez- 
cucan  prince  Nezahualcoyotl  signified  "hungry  fox," 
intimating  his  sagacity,  and  his  distresses  in  early  life.7 
The  emblems  of  such  names  were  no  sooner  seen,  than 
they  suggested  to  every  Mexican  the  person  and  place 
intended,  and,  when  painted  on  their  shields  or  em 
broidered  on  their  banners,  became  the  armorial  bear 
ings  by  which  city  and  chieftain  were  distinguished,  as 
in  Europe  in  the  age  of  chivalry.8 

But,  although  the  Aztecs  were  instructed  in  all  the 
varieties  of  hieroglyphical  painting,  they  chiefly  re 
sorted  to  the  clumsy  method  of  direct  representation. 
Had  their  empire  lasted,  like  the  Egyptian,  several 
thousand  years,  instead  of  the  brief  space  of  two  hun 
dred,  they  would  doubtless,  like  them,  have  advanced 

7  Boturini,  Idea,  pp.  77-83. — Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  pp.  34- 
43. — Heeren  is  not  aware,  or  does  not  allow,  that  the  Mexicans  used 
phonetic  characters  of  any  kind.     (Hist.  Res.,  vol.  v.  p.  45.)     They, 
indeed,  reversed  the  usual  order  of  proceeding,  and,  instead  of  adapt 
ing  the  hieroglyphic  to  the  name  of  the  object,  accommodated  the 
name  of  the  object  to  the  hieroglyphic.     This,  of  course,  could  not 
admit  of  great  extension.     We  find  phonetic  characters,  however, 
applied  in  some  instances  to  common  as  well  as  proper  names. 

8  Boturini,  Idea,  ubi  supra. 


ioo  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

to  the  more  frequent  use  of  the  phonetic  writing.  But, 
before  they  could  be  made  acquainted  with  the  capa 
bilities  of  their  own  system,  the  Spanish  Conquest, 
by  introducing  the  European  alphabet,  supplied  their 
scholars  with  a  more  perfect  contrivance  for  expressing 
thought,  which  soon  supplanted  the  ancient  pictorial 
character.9 

Clumsy  as  it  was,  however,  the  Aztec  picture-writing 
seems  to  have  been  adequate  to  the  demands  of  the 
nation,  in  their  imperfect  state  of  civilization.  By 
means  of  it  were  recorded  all  their  laws,  and  even  their 
regulations  for  domestic  economy ;  their  tribute-rolls, 
specifying  the  imposts  of  the  various  towns ;  their 
mythology,  calendars,  and  rituals ;  their  political  an 
nals,  carried  back  to  a  period  long  before  the  founda 
tion  of  the  city.  They  digested  a  complete  system  of 
chronology,  and  could  specify  with  accuracy  the  dates 
of  the  most  important  events  in  their  history ;  the  year 
being  inscribed  on  the  margin,  against  the  particular 
circumstance  recorded.  It  is  true,  history,  thus  ex 
ecuted,  must  necessarily  be  vague  and  fragmentary. 
Only  a  few  leading  incidents  could  be  presented.  But 
in  this  it  did  not  differ  much  from  the  monkish  chron 
icles  of  the  dark  ages,  which  often  dispose  of  years 
in  a  few  brief  sentences, — quite  long  enough  for  the 
annals  of  barbarians.10 

9  Clavigero  has  given  a  catalogue  of  the  Mexican  historians  of  the 
sixteenth  century, — some  of  whom  are  often  cited  in  this  history,— 
which  bears  honorable  testimony  to  the  literary  ardor  and  intelligence 
of  the  native  races.     Stor.  del  Messico,  torn,  i.,  Pref. — Also,  Gama, 
Descripcion,  Parte  i,  passim. 

10  M.  de  Humboldt's  remark,  that  the  Aztec  annals,  from  the  close 
of  the  eleventh  century,  "  exhibit  the  greatest  method  and  astonish- 


MANUSCRIPTS.  IOI 

In  order  to  estimate  aright  the  picture-writing  of  the 
Aztecs,  one  must  regard  it  in  connection  with  oral 
tradition,  to  which  it  was  auxiliary.  In  the  colleges 
of  the  priests  the  youth  were  instructed  in  astronomy, 
history,  mythology,  etc.;  and  those  who  were  to  fol 
low  the  profession  of  hieroglyphical  painting  were 
taught  the  application  of  the  characters  appropriated 
to  each  of  these  branches.  In  an  historical  work,  one 
had  charge  of  the  chronology,  another  of  the  events. 
Every  part  of  the  labor  was  thus  mechanically  distrib 
uted.11  The  pupils,  instructed  in  all  that  was  before 
known  in  their  several  departments,  were  prepared  to 
extend  still  further  the  boundaries  of  their  imperfect 
science.  The  hieroglyphics  served  as  a  sort  of  stenog 
raphy,  a  collection  of  notes,  suggesting  to  the  initiated 

ing  minuteness"  (Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  137),  must  be  received 
with  some  qualification.  The  reader  would  scarcely  understand  from 
it  that  there  are  rarely  more  than  one  or  two  facts  recorded  in  any 
year,  and  sometimes  not  one  in  a  dozen  or  more.  The  necessary 
looseness  and  uncertainty  of  these  historical  records  are  made  appar 
ent  by  the  remarks  of  the  Spanish  interpreter  of  the  Mendoza  Codex, 
who  tells  us  that  the  natives,  to  whom  it  was  submitted,  were  very 
long  in  coming  to  an  agreement  about  the  proper  signification  of  the 
paintings.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  87. 

11  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  p.  30. — Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  7. — 
"  Tenian  para  ca.da  genero,"  says  Ixtlilxochitl,  "  sus  Escritores,  unos 
que  trataban  de  los  Anales,  pcniendo  por  su  orden  las  cosas  que  aca- 
ecian  en  cada  un  ano,  con  dia,  mes,  y  hora  ;  otros  tenian  a  su  cargo  las 
Genealogias,  y  descendencia  de  los  Reyes,  Senores,  y  Personas  de 
linaje,  asentando  por  cuenta  y  razon  los  que  nacian,  y  borraban  los 
que  morian  con  la  misma  cuenta.  Unos  tenian  cuidado  de  las  pintu- 
ras,  de  los  terminos,  limites,  y  mojoneras  de  las  Ciudades,  Provincias, 
Pueblos,  y  Lugares,  y  de  las  suertes,  y  repartimiento  de  las  tierras 
cuyas  eran,  y  a  quien  pertenecian  ;  otros  de  los  libros  de  Leyes.  ritos, 
y  cerernonias  que  usaban."  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  Prologo. 


102  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

much  more  than  could  be  conveyed  by  a  literal  inter 
pretation.  This  combination  of  the  written  and  the 
oral  comprehended  what  may  be  called  the  literature 
of  the  Aztecs.12 

Their  manuscripts  were  made  of  different  materials, 
— of  cotton  cloth,  or  skins  nicely  prepared ;  of  a  com 
position  of  silk  and  gum ;  but,  for  the  most  part,  of  a 
fine  fabric  from  the  leaves  of  the  aloe,  agave  Americana, 
called  by  the  natives  maguey,  which  grows  luxuriantly 
over  the  table-lands  of  Mexico.  A  sort  of  paper  was 
made  from  it,  resembling  somewhat  the  Egyptian 
papyrus**  which,  when  properly  dressed  and  polished, 
is  said  to  have  been  more  soft  and  beautiful  than 
parchment.  Some  of  the  specimens,  still  existing, 
exhibit  their  original  freshness,  and  the  paintings  on 

12  According  to  Boturini,  the  ancient  Mexicans  were  acquainted 
with  the  Peruvian  method  of  recording  events  by  means  of  the  qtdp- 
pus, — knotted  strings  of  various  colors, — which  were  afterwards 
superseded  by  hieroglyphical  painting.  (Idea,  p.  86.)  He  could 
discover,  however,  but  a  single  specimen,  which  he  met  with  in 
Tlascala,  and  that  had  nearly  fallen  to  pieces  with  age.  McCulloh 
suggests  that  it  may  have  been  only  a  wampum  belt,  such  as  is  com 
mon  among  our  North  American  Indians.  (Researches,  p.  201.)  The 
conjecture  is  plausible  enough.  Strings  of  wampum,  of  various  colors, 
were  used  by  the  latter  people  for  the  similar  purpose  of  registering 
events.  The  insulated  fact,  recorded  by  Boturini,  is  hardly  sufficient 
— unsupported,  so  far  as  I  know,  by  any  other  testimony — to  estab 
lish  the  existence  of  quippus  among  the  Aztecs,  who  had  but  little  in 
common  with  the  Peruvians. 

J3  Pliny,  who  gives  a  minute  account  of  the  papyrus  reed  of  Egypt, 
notices  the  various  manufactures  obtained  from  it,  as  ropes,  cloth, 
paper,  etc.  It  also  served  as  a  thatch  for  the  roofs  of  houses,  and  as 
food  and  drink  for  the  natives.  (Hist.  Nat.,  lib.  n,  cap.  20-22.)  It 
is  singular  that  the  American  agave,  a  plant  so  totally  different,  should 
also  have  been  applied  to  all  these  various  uses. 


MANUSCRIPTS.  103 

them  retain  their  brilliancy  of  colors.  They  were 
sometimes  done  up  into  rolls,  but  more  frequently  into 
volumes,  of  moderate  si/e,  in  which  the  paper  was 
shut  up,  like  a  folding  screen,  with  a  leaf  or  tablet  of 
wood  at  each  extremity,  that  gave  the  whole,  when 
closed,  the  appearance  of  a  book.  The  length  of  the 
strips  was  determined  only  by  convenience.  As  the 
pages  might  be  read  and  referred  to  separately,  this 
form  had  obvious  advantages  over  the  rolls  of  the 
ancients.14 

At  the  time  of  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  great 
quantities  of  these  manuscripts  were  treasured  up  in 
the  country.  Numerous  persons  were  employed  in 
painting,  and  the  dexterity  of  their  operations  excited 
the  astonishment  of  the  Conquerors.  Unfortunately, 
this  was  mingled  with  other  and  unworthy  feelings. 
The  strange,  unknown  characters  inscribed  on  them 
excited  suspicion.  They  were  looked  on  as  magic 
scrolls,  and  were  regarded  in  the  same  light  with  the 
idols  and  temples,  as  the  symbols  of  a  pestilent  super 
stition,  that  must  be  extirpated.  The  first  archbishop 
of  Mexico,  Don  Juan  de  Zumarraga, — a  name  that 
should  be  as  immortal  as  that  of  Omar, — collected 

J4  Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  p.  8. — Boturini,  Idea,  p.  96. 
— Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  52. — Peter  Martyr  Anglerius, 
De  Orbe  Novo  (Compluti,  1530),  dec.  3,  cap.  8;  dec.  5,  cap.  10. — 
Martyr  has  given  a  minute  description  of  the  Indian  maps  sent  home 
soon  after  the  invasion  of  New  Spain.  His  inquisitive  mind  was  struck 
with  the  evidence  they  afforded  of  a  positive  civilization.  Ribera,  the 
friend  of  Cortes,  brought  back  a  story  that  the  paintings  were  designed 
as  patterns  for  embroiderers  and  jewellers.  But  Martyr  had  been  in 
Egypt,  and  he  felt  little  hesitation  in  placing  the  Indian  drawings  in 
the  same  class  with  those  he  had  seen  on  the  obelisks  and  temples  of 
that  country. 


104  AZTEC   CIVILIZATION'. 

these  paintings  from  every  quarter,  especially  from 
Tezcuco,  the  most  cultivated  capital  in  Anahuac,  and 
the  great  depository  of  the  national  archives.  He  then 
caused  them  to  be  piled  up  in  a  "mountain-heap" — 
as  it  is  called  by  the  Spanish  writers  themselves — in 
the  market-place  of  Tlatelolco,  and  reduced  them  all 
to  ashes  !  IS  His  greater  countryman,  Archbishop  Xi- 
menes,  had  celebrated  a  similar  auto-da-fe  of  Arabic 
manuscripts,  in  Granada,  some  twenty  years  before. 
Never  did  fanaticism  achieve  two  more  signal  triumphs 
than  by  the  annihilation  of  so  many  curious  monuments 
of  human  ingenuity  and  learning  ! l6 

The  unlettered  soldiers  were  not  slow  in  imitating 
the  example  of  their  prelate.  Every  chart  and  volume 
which  fell  into  their  hands  was  wantonly  destroyed ; 
so  that,  when  the  scholars  of  a  later  and  more  en 
lightened  age  anxiously  sought  to  recover  some  of 
these  memorials  of  civilization,  nearly  all  had  perished, 
and  the  few  surviving  were  jealously  hidden  by  the 

*5  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  Prologo.— Idem,  Sum.  Relac., 
MS. — ["  The  name  of  Zumarraga,"  says  Senor  Alaman,  "  has  other 
and  very  different  titles  to  immortality  from  that  mentioned  by  Mr. 
Prescott, — titles  founded  on  his  virtues  and  apostolic  labors,  especially 
on  the  fervid  zeal  with  which  he  defended  the  natives  and  tne  manifold 
benefits  he  secured  to  them.  The  loss  that  history  suffered  by  the 
destruction  of  the  Indian  manuscripts  by  the  missionaries  has  been  in 
a  great  measure  repaired  by  the  writings  of  the  missionaries  them 
selves."  Conquista  de  Mejico  (trad,  de  Vega),  torn.  i.  p.  60.] — Writers 
are  not  agreed  whether  the  conflagration  took  place  in  the  square  of 
Tlatelolco  or  Tezcuco.  Comp.  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii. 
p.  188,  and  Bustamante's  Pref.  to  Ixtlilxochitl,  Cruautes  des  Con- 
querans,  trad,  de  Ternaux,  p.  xvii. 

16  It  has  been  my  lot  to  record  both  these  displays  of  human  in 
firmity,  so  humbling  to  the  pride  of  intellect.  See  the  History  o" 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  Part  2,  chap.  6. 


MANUSCRIPTS.  105 

natives.17  Through  the  indefatigable  labors  of  a  pri 
vate  individual,  however,  a  considerable  collection  was 
eventually  deposited  in  the  archives  of  Mexico,  but 
was  so  little  heeded  there  that  some  were  plundered, 
others  decayed  piecemeal  from  the  damps  and  mildews, 
and  others,  again,  were  used  up  as  waste  paper  ! l8  We 
contemplate  with  indignation  the  cruelties  inflicted  by 
the  early  conquerors.  But  indignation  is  qualified  with 
contempt  when  we  see  them  thus  ruthlessly  trampling 
out  the  spark  of  knowledge,  the  common  boon  and 
property  of  all  mankind.  We  may  well  doubt  which 
has  the  stronger  claim  to  civilization,  the  victor  or  the 
vanquished. 

A  few  of  the  Mexican  manuscripts  have  found  their 
way,  from  time  to  time,  to  Europe,  and  are  carefully 
preserved  in  the  public  libraries  of  its  capitals.  They 
are  brought  together  in  the  magnificent  work  of  Lord 
Kingsborough ;  but  not  one  is  there  from  Spain.  The 
most  important  of  them,  for  the  light  it  throws  on  the 
Aztec  institutions,  is  the  Mendoza  Codex ;  which,  after 
its  mysterious  disappearance  for  more  than  a  century, 
has  at  length  reappeared  in  the  Bodleian  Library  at 
Oxford.  It  has  been  several  times  engraved.19  The 

T7  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  10,  cap.  27. — Bustamante, 
Mananas  de  Alameda  (Mexico,  1836),  torn,  ii.,  Prologo. 

18  Very  many  of  the  documents  thus  painfully  amassed  in  the 
archives  of  the  Audience  of  Mexico  were  sold,  according  to  Busta 
mante,  as  wrapping-paper,  to  apothecaries,  shopkeepers,  and  rocket- 
makers  !  Boturini's  noble  collection  has  not  fared  much  better. 

J9  The  history  of  this  famous  collection  is  familiar  to  scholars.  It 
was  sent  to  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Plfth,  not  long  after  the  Con 
quest,  by  the  viceroy  Mendoza,  Marques  de  Mondejar.  The  vessel 
fell  into  the  hands  of  a  French  cruiser,  and  the  manuscript  was  taken 
to  Paris.  It  was  afterwards  bought  by  the  chaplain  of  the  English 
E* 


Io6  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

most  brilliant  in  coloring,  probably,  is  the  Borgian 
collection,  in  Rome.20  The  most  curious,  however,  is 

embassy,  and,  coming  into  the  possession  of  the  antiquary  Purchas, 
was  engraved,  in  extenso,  by  him,  in  the  third  volume  of  his  "  Pil 
grimage."  After  its  publication,  in  1625,  the  Aztec  original  lost  its 
importance,  and  fell  into  oblivion  so  completely  that,  when  at  length 
the  public  curiosity  was  excited  in  regard  to  its  fate,  no  trace  of  it 
could  be  discovered.  Many  were  the  speculations  of  scholars,  at 
home  and  abroad,  respecting  it,  and  Dr.  Robertson  settled  the  ques 
tion  as  to  its  existence  in  England,  by  declaring  that  there  was  no 
Mexican  relic  in  that  country,  except  a  golden  goblet  of  Montezuma. 
(History  of  America  (London,  1796),  vol.  iii.  p.  370.)  Nevertheless, 
the  identical  Codex,  and  several  other  Mexican  paintings,  have  been 
since  discovered  in  the  Bodleian  Library.  The  circumstance  has 
brought  some  obloquy  on  the  historian,  who,  while  prying  into  the 
collections  of  Vienna  and  the  Escorial,  could  be  so  blind  to  those 
under  his  own  eyes.  The  oversight  will  not  appear  so  extraordinary 
to  a  thorough-bred  collector,  whether  of  manuscripts,  or  medals,  or 
any  other  rarity.  The  Mendoza  Codex  is,  after  all,  but  a  copy,  coarsely 
done  with  a  pen  on  European  paper.  Another  copy,  from  which  Arch 
bishop  Lorenzana  engraved  his  tribute-rolls  in  Mexico,  existed  in 
Boturini's  collection.  A  third  is  in  the  Escorial,  according  to  the 
Marquis  of  Spineto.  (Lectures  on  the  Elements  of  Hierogh  phics 
(London),  Lect.  7.)  This  may  possibly  be  the  original  painting.  The 
entire  Codex,  copied  from  the  Bodleian  maps,  with  its  Spanish  and 
English  interpretations,  is  included  in  the  noble  compilation  of  Lord 
Kingsborough.  (Vols.  i.,  v.,  vi.)  It  is  distributed  into  three  pans, 
embracing  the  civil  history  of  the  nation,  the  tributes  paid  by  the 
cities,  and  the  domestic  economy  and  discipline  of  the  Mexicans,  and, 
from  the  fulness  of  the  interpretation,  is  of  much  importance  in  regard 
to  these  several  topics. 

20  It  formerly  belonged  to  the  Giustiniani  family,  but  was  so  little 
cared  for  that  it  was  suffered  to  fall  into  the  mischievous  hands  of  the 
domestics'  children,  who  made  sundry  attempts  to  burn  it.  Fortu 
nately,  it  was  painted  on  deerskin,  and,  though  somewhat  singed,  was 
not  destroyed.  (Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  89,  etseq.)  It 
is  impossible  to  cast  the  eye  over  this  brilliant  assemblage  of  forms 
and  colors  without  feeling  how  hopeless  must  be  the  attempt  to  recover 
a  key  to  the  Aztec  mythological  symbols ;  which  are  here  distributed 


MANUSCRIPTS. 


107 


the  Dresden  Codex,  which  has  excited  less  attention 
than  it  deserves.  Although  usually  classed  among 
Mexican  manuscripts,  it  bears  little  resemblance  to 
them  in  its  execution  ;  the  figures  of  objects  are  more 
delicately  drawn,  and  the  characters,  unlike  the  Mex 
ican,  appear  to  be  purely  arbitrary,  and  are  possibly 
phonetic.21  Their  regular  arrangement  is  quite  equal 
to  the  Egyptian.  The  whole  infers  a  much  higher 
civilization  than  the  Aztec,  and  offers  abundant  food 
for  curious  speculation.23 

with  the  symmetry,  indeed,  but  in  all  the  endless  combinations,  of  the 
kaleidoscope.  It  is  in  the  third  volume  of  Lord  Kingsborough  s  work. 

21  Humboldt,  who  has  copied  some  pages  of  it  in  his  "  Atlas  pitto- 
resque,"  intimates  no  doubt  of  its  Aztec  origin.  (Vues  des  Cordilleres, 
pp.  266,  267.)     M.  Le  Noir  even  reads  in  it  an  exposition  of  Mexican 
Mythology,  with  occasional  analogies  to  that  of  Egypt  and  of  Hin- 
dostan.  (Antiquites  Mexicaines,  torn,  ii.,  Introd.)    The  fantastic  forms 
of  hieroglyphic  symbols  may  afford  analogies  for  almost  anything. 

22  The  history  of  this  Codex,  engraved  entire  in  the  third  volume  of 
the  "  Antiquities  of  Mexico,"  goes  no  further  back  than  1739,  when  it 
was  purchased  at  Vienna  for  the  Dresden  Library.     It  is  made  of  the 
American  agave.     The  figures  painted  on  it  bear  little  resemblance, 
either  in  feature  or  form,  to  the  Mexican.     They  are  surmounted  by 
a  sort  of  head-gear,  which  looks  something  like  a  modern  peruke. 
On  the  chin  of  one  we  may  notice  a  beard,  a  sign  often  used  after  the 
Conquest  to  denote  a  European.     Many  of  the  persons  are  sitting 
cross-legged.     The  profiles  of  the  faces,  and  the  whole  contour  of  the 
limbs,  are  sketched  with  a  spirit  and  freedom  very  unlike  the  hard, 
angular  outlines  of  the  Aztecs.     The  characters,  also,  are  delicately 
traced,   generally  in  an  irregular  but  circular  form,  and  are  very 
minute.     They  are  arranged,  like  the  Egyptian,  both  horizontally 
and  perpendicularly,  mostly  in   the  former  manner,  and,  from  the 
prevalent  direction  of  the  profiles,  would  seem  to  have  been  read 
from  right  to  left.     Whether  phonetic  or  ideographic,  they  are  of 
that  compact  and  purely  conventional  sort  which  belongs  to  a  well- 
digested  system  for  the  communication  ot  thought.     One  cannot  but 
regret  that  no  trace  should  exist  of  the  quarter  whence  this  MS.  was 


lo8  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

Some  few  of  these  maps  have  interpretations  annexed 
to  them,  which  were  obtained  from  the  natives  after 
the  Conquest.23  The  greater  part  are  without  any,  and 
cannot  now  be  unriddled.  Had  the  Mexicans  made 
free  use  of  a  phonetic  alphabet,  it  might  have  been 
originally  easy,  by  mastering  the  comparatively  few 
signs  employed  in  this  kind  of  communication,  to 
have  got  a  permanent  key  to  the  whole.24  A  brief 

obtained;  perhaps  some  part  of  Central  America,  from  the  region  of 
the  mysterious  races  who  built  the  monuments  of  Mitia  and  Palenque  ; 
though,  in  truth,  there  seems  scarcely  more  resemblance  in  the  sym 
bols  to  the  Palenque  bas-reliefs  than  to  the  Aztec  paintings.* 

23  There  are  three  of  these  :  the  Mendoza  Codex  ;  the  Telleriano- 
Remensis, — formerly  the  property  of  Archbishop  Teller, — in  the  Royal 
Library  of  Paris  ;  and  the  Vatican  MS.,  No.  3738.     The  interpreta 
tion  of  the  last  bears  evident  marks  of  its  recent  origin  ;  probably  as 
late  as  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  or  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  the  ancient  hieroglyphics  were  read  with  the  eye  of 
faith  rather  than  of  reason.     Whoever  was  the  commentator  (comp. 
Vues  des  Cordilleres,  pp.  203.  204  ;  and  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  pp. 
155,  222),  he  has  given  such  an  exposition  as  shows  the  old  Aztecs  to 
have  been  as  orthodox  Christians  as  any  subjects  of  the  Pope. 

24  The  total  number  of  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  discovered  by  Cham- 
pollion  amounts  to  864 ;  and  of  these  130  only  are  phonetic,  notwith 
standing  that  this  kind  of  character  is  used  far  more  frequently  than 
both  the  others.     Precis,  p.  263  ; — also  Spineto,  Lectures,  Lect.  3. 


*  [Mr.  Stephens,  who,  like  Humboldt,  considered  the  Dresden 
Codex  a  Mexican  manuscript,  compared  the  characters  of  it  with 
those  on  the  altar  of  Copan,  and  drew  the  conclusion  that  the  in 
habitants  of  that  place  and  of  Palenque  must  have  spoken  the  same 
language  as  the  Aztecs.  Prescott's  opinion  has,  however,  been  con 
firmed  by  later  critics,  who  have  shown  that  the  hieroglyphics  of  the 
Dresden  Codex  are  quite  different  from  those  at  Copan  and  Palenque, 
while  the  Mexican  writing  bears  not  the  least  resemblance  to  either. 
See  Orozco  y  Berra,  Geografia  de  las  Lenguas  de  Mexico,  p,  101. 
-ED.] 


MANUSCRIPTS.  109 

inscription  has  furnished  a  clue  to  the  vast  labyrinth 
of  Egyptian  hieroglyphics.  But  the  Aztec  characters, 
representing  individuals,  or,  at  most,  species,  require 
to  be  made  out  separately ;  a  hopeless  task,  for  which 
little  aid  is  to  be  expected  from  the  vague  and  general 
tenor  of  the  few  interpretations  now  existing.  There 
was,  as  already  mentioned,  until  late  in  the  last  cen 
tury,  a  professor  in  the  University  of  Mexico,  especially 
devoted  to  the  study  of  the  national  picture-writing. 
But,  as  this  was  with  a  view  to  legal  proceedings,  his 
information,  probably,  was  limited  to  deciphering  titles. 
In  less  than  a  hundred  years  after  the  Conquest,  the 
knowledge  of  the  hieroglyphics  had  so  far  declined 
that  a  diligent  Tezcucan  writer  complains  he  could 
find  in  the  country  only  two  persons,  both  very  aged, 
at  all  competent  to  interpret  them.25 

It  is  not  probable,  therefore,  that  the  art  of  reading 
these  picture-writings  will  ever  be  recovered  ;  a  cir 
cumstance  certainly  to  be  regretted.  Not  that  the 
records  of  a  semi-civilized  people  would  be  likely  to 
contain  any  new  truth  or  discovery  important  to  human 
comfort  or  progress ;  but  they  could  scarcely  fail  to 
throw  some  additional  light  on  the  previous  history  of 

25  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  Dedic. — Roturini,  who  travelled 
through  every  part  of  the  country  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
could  not  meet  with  an  individual  who  could  afford  him  the  least 
clue  to  the  Aztec  hieroglyphics.  So  completely  had  every  vestige  of 
their  ancient  language  been  swept  away  from  the  memory  of  the 
natives.  (Idea,  p.  116.)  If  we  are  to  believe  Bustamante,  how 
ever,  a  complete  key  to  the  whole  system  is,  at  this  moment,  some 
where  in  Spain.  It  was  carried  home,  at  the  time  of  the  process 
against  Father  Mier,  in  1795.  The  name  of  the  Mexican  Champol- 
lion  who  discovered  it  is  Borunda.  Gama,  Descripcion,  torn.  ii.  p. 
33,  nota. 

VOL.  I. — 10 


no  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

the  nation,  and  that  of  the  more  polished  people  who 
before  occupied  the  country.  This  would  be  still  more 
probable,  if  any  literary  relics  of  their  Toltec  prede 
cessors  were  preserved ;  and,  if  report  be  true,  an  im 
portant  compilation  from  this  source  was  extant  at 
the  time  of  the  invasion,  and  may  have  perhaps  con 
tributed  to  swell  the  holocaust  of  Zumarraga.26  It  is 
no  great  stretch  of  fancy  to  suppose  that  such  records 
might  reveal  the  successive  links  in  the  mighty  chain 
of  migration  of  the  primitive  races,  and,  by  carrying 
us  back  to  the  seat  of  their  possessions  in  the  Old 

26  Teoamoxtli,  "  the  divine  book,"  as  it  was  called.  According  to 
Ixtlilxochitl,  it  was  composed  by  a  Tezcucan  doctor,  named  Huemat- 
zin,  towards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  (Relaciones,  MS.) 
It  gave  an  account  of  the  migrations  of  his  nation  from  Asia,  of  the 
various  stations  on  their  journey,  of  their  social  and  religious  institu 
tions,  their  science,  arts,  etc.,  etc.,  a  good  deal  too  much  for  one  book. 
Jgnotum  pro  mirifico.  It  has  never  been  seen  by  a  European.*  A 
copy  is  said  to  have  been  in  possession  of  the  Tezcucan  chroniclers 
on  the  taking  of  their  capital.  (Bustamante,  Cronica  Mexicana 
(Mexico,  1822),  carta  3.)  Lord  Kingsborough,  who  can  scent  out  a 
Hebrew  root  be  it  buried  never  so  deep,  has  discovered  that  the 
Teoamoxtli  was  the  Pentateuch.  Thus,  tco  means  "divine,"  amotl, 
"  paper"  or  "  book,"  and  ino.vtli  "  appears  to  be  Moses  ;" — "  Divine 
Book  of  Moses"  !  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  204,-nota. 


*  [It  must  have  been  seen  by  mnny  Europeans,  if  we  accept  either 
the  statement  of  the  Baron  de  Waldeck,  in  1838  (Voyage  pittoresque 
et  archeologique  dans  la  Province  d' Yucatan),  that  it  was  then  in  his 
possession,  or  the  theories  of  Brasseur  de  Bourbourg,  who  identifies 
it  with  the  Dresden  Codex  and  certain  other  hieroglyphical  manu 
scripts,  and  who  believes  himself  to  have  found  the  key  to  it,  and 
consequently  to  the  origin  of  the  Mexican  history  and  civilization, 
in  one  of  the  documents  in  Boturini's  collection,  to  which  lie  has 
given  the  name  of  the  Codex  Chimalpopoca.  Quatre  Lettres  sur  le 
Mexique  (Paris,  1868). — ED.] 


TRADITIONS.  1 1 1 

World,  have  solved  the  mystery  which  has  so  long 
perplexed  the  learned,  in  regard  to  the  settlement  and 
civilization  of  the  New.* 

Besides  the  hieroglyphical  maps,  the  traditions  of 
the  country  were  embodied  in  the  songs  and  hymns, 
which,  as  already  mentioned,  were  carefully  taught  in 
the  public  schools.  These  were  various,  embracing 
the  mythic  legends  of  a  heroic  age,  the  warlike  achieve 
ments  of  their  own,  or  the  softer  tales  of  love  and 
pleasure.27  Many  of  them  were  composed  by  scholars 
and  persons  of  rank,  and  are  cited  as  affording  the 
most  authentic  record  of  events.28  The  Mexican  dia 
lect  was  rich  and  expressive,  though  inferior  to  the 
Tezcucan,  the  most  polished  of  the  idioms  of  Anahuac. 

27  Boturini,   Idea,  pp.  90-97. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn, 
ii.  pp.  174-178. 

28  "  Los  cantos  con  que  las  observaban  Autores  muy  graves  en  su 
modo  de  cicncia  y  facultad,  pues  fueron  los  mismos  Reyes,  y  de  la 
gente  mas  ilustre  y  entendida,  que  siempre  observaron  y  adquirieron 
la  verdad,  y  esta  con  tanta  razon,  quanta  pudieron  tener  los  mas 
graves  yfidedignos  Autores."  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,MS.,Prologo. 


*  [Such  a  supposition  would  require  a  "  stretch  of  fancy"  greater 
than  any  which  the  mind  of  the  mere  historical  inquirer  is  capable  of 
taking.  To  admit  the  probability  of  the  Asiatic  origin  of  the  Amer 
ican  races,  and  of  the  indefinite  antiquity  of  the  Mexican  civilization, 
is  something  very  different  from  believing  that  this  civilization,  already 
developed  in  the  degree  required  for  the  existence  and  preservation  of 
its  own  records  during  so  long  a  period  and  so  great  a  migration,  can 
have  been  transplanted  from  the  one  continent  to  the  other.  It  would 
be  easier  to  accept  the  theory,  now  generally  abandoned,  that  the 
original  settlers  owed  their  civilization  to  a  body  of  colonists  from 
Phoenicia.  In  view  of  so  hazardous  a  conjecture,  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  why  Buschmann  has  taken  exception  to  the  "  sharp  criti 
cism"  to  which  Prescott  has  subjected  the  sources  of  Mexican  his 
tory,  and  his  "  low  estimate  of  their  value  and  credibility." — ED.] 


112  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

None  of  the  Aztec  compositions  have  survived,  but  we 
can  form  some  estimate  of  the  general  state  of  poetic 
culture  from  the  odes  which  have  come  down  to  us  from 
the  royal  house  of  Tezcuco.29  Sahagim  has  furnished 
us  with  translations  of  their  more  elaborate  prose,  con 
sisting  of  prayers  and  public  discourses,  which  give 
a  favorable  idea  of  their  eloquence,  and  show  that  they 
paid  much  attention  to  rhetorical  effect.  They  are 
said  to  have  had,  also,  something  like  theatrical  exhi 
bitions,  of  a  pantomimic  sort,  in  which  the  faces  of  the 
performers  were  covered  with  masks,  and  the  figures  of 
birds  or  animals  were  frequently  represented ;  an  imi 
tation  to  which  they  may  have  been  led  by  the  familiar 
delineation  of  such  objects  in  their  hieroglyphics.30  In 
all  this  we  see  the  dawning  of  a  literary  culture,  sur 
passed,  however,  by  their  attainments  in  the  severer 
walks  of  mathematical  science. 

They  devised  a  system  of  notation  in  their  arith 
metic  sufficiently  simple.  The  first  twenty  numbers 
were  expressed  by  a  corresponding  number  of  dots. 
The  first  five  had  specific  names ;  after  which  they  were 
represented  by  combining  the  fifth  with  one  of  the  four 
preceding ;  as  five  and  one  for  six,  five  and  two  for 
seven,  and  so  on.  Ten  and  fifteen  had  each  a  sepa 
rate  name,  which  was  also  combined  with  the  first  four, 
to  express  a  higher  quantity.  These  four,  therefore, 
were  the  radical  characters  of  their  oral  arithmetic,  in 

29  See  chap.  6  of  this  Introduction. 

3°  See  some  account  of  these  mummeries  in  Acosta  (lib.  5,  cap.  30), 
—also  Clavigero  (Stor.  del  Messico,  ubi  supra).  Stone  models  of 
masks  are  sometimes  found  among  the  Indian  ruins,  and  engravings 
of  them  are  both  in  Lord  Kingsborough's  work  and  in  the  Antiquites 
Mexicaines. 


ARITHMETIC.  113 

the  same  manner  as  they  were  of  the  written  with  the 
ancient  Romans ;  a  more  simple  arrangement,  proba 
bly,  than  any  existing  among  Europeans.31  Twenty 
was  expressed  by  a  separate  hieroglyphic, — a  flag. 
Larger  sums  were  reckoned  by  twenties,  and,  in 
writing,  by  repeating  the  number  of  flags.  The  square 
of  twenty,  four  hundred,  had  a  separate  sign,  that  of 
a  plume,  and  so  had  the  cube  of  twenty,  or  eight 
thousand,  which  was  denoted  by  a  purse,  or  sack. 
This  was  the  whole  arithmetical  apparatus  of  the  Mex 
icans,  by  the  combination  of  which  they  were  enabled 
to  indicate  any  quantity.  For  greater  expedition,  they 
used  to  denote  fractions  of  the  larger  sums  by  drawing 
only  a  part  of  the  object.  Thus,  half  or  three-fourths 
of  a  plume,  or  of  a  purse,  represented  that  proportion 
of  their  respective  sums,  and  so  on.32  With  all  this, 
the  machinery  will  appear  very  awkward  to  us,  who 
perform  our  operations  with  so  much  ease  by  means  of 
the  Arabic  or,  rather,  Indian  ciphers.  It  is  not  much 
more  awkward,  however,  than  the  system  pursued  by 
the  great  mathematicians  of  antiquity,  unacquainted 
with  the  brilliant  invention,  which  has  given  a  new 
aspect  to  mathematical  science,  of  determining  the 
value,  in  a  great  measure,  by  the  relative  position  of 
the  figures. 

In  the  measurement  of  time,   the  Aztecs   adjusted 
their  civil  year  by  the  solar.     They  divided   it   into 

31  Gama,   Descripcion,   Parte  2,  Apencl.  2. — Gama,  in  comparing 
the  language  of  Mexican  notation  with  the  decimal  system  of  the 
Europeans  and  the  ingenious  binary  system  of  Leibnitz,  confounds 
oral  with  written  arithmetic. 

32  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. — This  learned  Mexican  has  given  a  very  satis 
factory  treatise  on  the  arithmetic  of  the  Aztecs,  in  his  second  part- 

10* 


H4  AZTEC   CIVILIZATION. 

eighteen  months  of  twenty  days  each.  Both  months 
and  days  were  expressed  by  peculiar  hieroglyphics, — • 
those  of  the  former  often  intimating  the  season  of  the 
year,  like  the  French  months  at  the  period  of  the 
Revolution.  Five  complementary  days,  as  in  Egypt,33 
were  added,  to  make  up  the  full  number  of  three  him- 
dred  and  sixty-five.  They  belonged  to  no  month,  and 
were  regarded  as  peculiarly  unlucky.  A  month  was 
divided  into  four  weeks,  of  five  days  each,  on  the  last 
of  which  was  the  public  fair,  or  market-day.34  This 
arrangement,  differing  from  that  of  the  nations  of  the 
Old  Continent,  whether  of  Europe  or  Asia,33  has  the 
advantage  of  giving  an  equal  number  of  days  to  each 
month,  and  of  comprehending  entire  weeks,  without  a 
fraction,  both  in  the  months  and  in  the  year.36 

As  the  year  is  composed  of  nearly  six  hours  more  than 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days,  there  still  remained 
an  excess,  which,  like  other  nations  who  have  framed 
a  calendar,  they  provided  for  by  intercalation ;  not, 

33  Herodotus,  Euterpe,  sec.  4. 

34  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  4,  Apend. — According  to 
Clavigero,  the  fairs  were  held  on  the  days  bearing  the  sign,  of  the  year. 
Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  62. 

35  The  people  of  Java,  according  to  Sir  Stamford  Raffles,  regulated 
their  markets,  also,  by  a  week  of  five  days.     They  had,  besides,  our 
week  of   seven   (History  of  Java  (London,   1830),  vol.  i,  pp.   531, 
532.)    The  latter  division  of  time,  of  general  use  throughout  the  East, 
is  the  oldest  monument  existing  of  astronomical  science.     See  La 
Place,  Exposition  du  Systeme  du  Monde  (Paris,  1808),  lib.  5,  chap,  i, 

36  Veytia,  Historia  antigua  de  Mejico  (Mejico,  1806),  torn.  i.  cap. 
6,  7. — Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  i,  pp.  33,  34,  et  alibi. — Boturiui, 
Idea,  pp.  4,  44,  et  seq. — Cod.  Tel.-Rem.,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol. 
vi.  p.  104. — Camargo,  Hist,  de  'Tlascala,  MS. — Toribio,  Hist,  de  los 
Indios,  MS.,  Parte  i,  cap.  5. 


CHRONOLOGY.  115 

indeed,  every  fourth  year,  as  the  Europeans,37  but  at 
longer  intervals,  like  some  of  the  Asiatics.38  They 
waited  till  the  expiration  of  fifty-two  vague  years,  when 
they  interposed  thirteen  days,  or  rather  twelve  and  a 
half,  this  being  the  number  which  had  fallen  in  arrear. 
Had  they  inserted  thirteen,  it  would  have  been  too 
much,  since  the  annual  excess  over  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  is  about  eleven  minutes  less  than  six  hours, 
But,  as  their  calendar  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  was 
found  to  correspond  with  the  European  (making  allow 
ance  for  the  subsequent  Gregorian  reform),  they  would 
seem  to  have  adopted  the  shorter  period  of  twelve  days 
and  a  half,39  which  brought  them,  within  an  almost 

37  Sahagun  intimates  doubts  of  this.   "  They  celebrated  another  feast 
every  four  years  in  honor  of  the  elements  of  fire,  and  it  is  probable 
and  has  been  conjectured  that  it  was  on  these  occasions  that  they 
made  their  intercalation,  counting  six  days  of  nemontemi"  as  the 
unlucky  complementary  days  were  called.     (Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana, 
lib.  4,  Apend.)    But  this  author,  however  good  an  authority  for  the 
superstitions,  is  an  indifferent  one  for  the  science  of  the  Mexicans. 

38  The  Persians  had  a  cycle  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  years,  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  each,  at  the  end  of  which  they 
intercalated  thirty  days.     (Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres,  p.  177.) 
This  was  the  same  as  thirteen  after  the  cycle  of  fifty-two  years  of  the 
Mexicans,  but  was  less  accurate  than  their  probable  intercalation  of 
twelve  days  and  a  half.     It  is  obviously  indifferent,  as  far  as  accuracy 
is  concerned,  which  multiple  of  four  is  selected  to  form  the  cycle ; 
though,  the  shorter  the  interval  of  intercalation,  the  less,  of  course, 
will  be  the  temporary  departure  from  the  true  time. 

39  This  is  the  conclusion  to  which  Gama  arrives,  after  a  very  careful 
investigation  of  the  subject.     He  supposes  that  the  "bundles,"  or 
cycles,  of  fifty-two  years — by  which,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Mexicans 
computed  time — ended  alternately  at  midnight  and  midday.     (De- 
scripcion,  Parte  i,  p.  52,  et  seq.)     He  finds  some  warrant  for  this  in 
Acosta's  account  (lib.  6,  cap.  2),  though  contradicted  by  Torquemada 
(Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  5,  cap.  33),  and,  as  it  appears,  by  Sahagun, — • 


n6  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

inappreciable  fraction,  to  the  exact  length  of  the  trop 
ical  year,  as  established  by  the  most  accurate  observa 
tions.40  Indeed,  the  intercalation  of  twenty-five  days 
in  every  hundred  and  four  years  shows  a  nicer  adjust 
ment  of  civil  to  solar  time  than  is  presented  by  any 
European  calendar ;  since  more  than  five  centuries 
must  elapse  before  the  loss  of  an  entire  day.41  Such 
was  the  astonishing  precision  displayed  by  the  Aztecs, 
or,  perhaps,  by  their  more  polished  Toltec  predecessors, 
in  these  computations,  so  difficult  as  to  have  baffled, 
till  a  comparatively  recent  period,  the  most  enlightened 
nations  of  Christendom  !42 

whose  work,  however,  Gama  never  saw  (Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana, 
lib.  7,  cap.  9), — both  of  whom  place  the  close  of  the  year  at  midnight. 
Gama's  hypothesis  derives  confirmation  from  a  circumstance  I  have 
not  seen  noticed.  Besides  the  "  bundle"  of  fifty-two  years,  the  Mex 
icans  had  a  larger  cycle  of  one  hundred  and  four  years,  called  "  an 
old  age."  As  this  was  not  used  in  their  reckonings,  which  "v/ere 
carried  on  by  their  "bundles,"  it  seems  highly  probable  that  it  was 
designed  to  express  the  period  which  would  bring  round  the  com 
mencement  of  the  smaller  cycles  to  the  same  hour,  and  in  which  the 
intercalary  days,  amounting  to  twenty-five,  might  be  comprehended 
without  a  fraction. 

4°  This  length,  as  computed  by  Zach,  at  36^6.  5h.  48m.  48sec.,  is 
only  am.  gsec.  longer  than  the  Mexican ;  which  corresponds  with  the 
celebrated  calculation  of  the  astronomers  of  the  Caliph  Almamon, 
that  fell  short  about  two  minutes  of  the  true  time.  See  La  Place, 
Exposition,  p.  350. 

4J  "  El  corto  exceso  de  4hor.  38min.  4oseg.,  que  hay  de  mas  de  los 
25  dias  en  el  periodo  de  104  anos,  no  puede  componer  un  dia  entero, 
hasta  que  pasen  mas  de  cinco  de  estos  periodos  maximos  6  538  anos." 
(Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  I,  p.  23.)  Gama  estimates  the  solar  year 
at  36$d.  5h.  48m.  sosec. 

42  The  ancient  Etruscans  arranged  their  calendar  in  cycles  of  no 
solar  years,  and  reckoned  the  year  at  3&5d.  5h.  4om. ;  at  least  this 
seems  probable,  says  Niebuhr.  (History  of  Rome,  Eng.  trans.  (Cam 
bridge,  1828),  vol.  i.  pp.  113,  238.)  The  early  Romans  had  not  wit 


CHRONOLOGY.  117 

The  chronological  system  of  the  Mexicans,  by  which 
they  determined  the  date  of  any  particular  event,  was 
also  very  remarkable.  The  epoch  from  which  they 
reckoned  corresponded  with  the  year  1091  of  the 
Christian  era.  It  was  the  period  of  the  reform  of  their 
calendar,  soon  after  their  migration  from  Aztlan.  They 
threw  the  years,  as  already  noticed,  into  great  cycles, 
of  fifty-two  each,  which  they  called  "sheafs,"  or 
"bundles,"  and  represented  by  a  quantity  of  reeds 
bound  together  by  a  string.  As  often  as  this  hiero 
glyphic  occurs  in  their  maps,  it  shows  the  number  of 
half-centuries.  To  enable  them  to  specify  any  partic- 

enough  to  avail  themselves  of  this  accurate  measurement,  which 
came  within  nine  minutes  of  the  true  time.  The  Julian  reform, 
which  assumed  3650!.  5^h.  as  the  length  of  the  year,  erred  as  much, 
or  rather  more,  on  the  other  side.  And  when  the  Europeans,  who 
adopted  this  calendar,  landed  in  Mexico,  their  reckoning  was  nearly 
eleven  days  in  advance  of  the  exact  time, — or,  in  other  words,  of  the 
reckoning  of  the  barbarous  Aztecs ;  a  remarkable  fact. — Gama's  re 
searches  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  year  of  the  new  cycle  began 
with  the  Aztecs  on  the  ninth  of  January ;  a  date  considerably  earlier 
than  that  usually  assigned  by  the  Mexican  writers.  ( Descripcion ,  Parte 
2,  pp.  49-52.)  By  postponing  the  intercalation  to  the  end  of  fifty-two 
years,  the  annual  loss  of  six  hours  made  every  fourth  year  begin  a 
day  earlier.  Thus,  the  cycle  commencing  on  the  ninth  of  January, 
the  fifth  year  of  it  began  on  the  eighth,  the  ninth  year  on  the  seventh, 
and  so  on ;  so  that  the  last  day  of  the  series  of  fifty-two  years  fell  on 
the  twenty-sixth  of  December,  when  the  intercalation  of  thirteen  days 
rectified  the  chronology  and  carried  the  commencement  of  the  new 
year  to  the  ninth  of  January  again.  Torquemada,  puzzled  by  the 
irregularity  of  the  new-year's  day,  asserts  that  the  Mexicans  were 
unacquainted  with  the  annual  excess  of  six  hours,  and  therefore  never 
intercalated!  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  10,  cap.  36.)  The  interpreter  of 
the  Vatican  Codex  has  fallen  into  a  series  of  blunders  on  the  same 
subject,  still  more  ludicrous.  (Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  PI.  16.)  So 
soon  had  Aztec  science  fallen  into  oblivion  after  the  Conquest ! 


n8  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

ular  year,  they  divided  the  great  cycle  into  four  smaller 
cycles,  or  indictions,  of  thirteen  years  each.  They 
then  adopted  two  periodical  series  of  signs,  one  con 
sisting  of  their  numerical  dots,  up  to  thirteen,  the 
other,  of  four  hieroglyphics  of  the  years.43  These 
latter  they  repeated  in  regular  succession,  setting 
against  each  one  a  number  of  the  corresponding  series 
of  dots,  continued  also  in  regular  succession  up  to 
thirteen.  The  same  system  was  pursued  through  the 
four  indictions,  which  thus,  it  will  be  observed,  began 
always  with  a  different  hieroglyphic  of  the  year  from 
the  preceding ;  and  in  this  way  each  of  the  hiero 
glyphics  was  made  to  combine  successively  with  each 
of  the  numerical  signs,  but  never  twice  with  the  same ; 
since  four,  and  thirteen,  the  factors  of  fifty-two, — the 
number  of  years  in  the  cycle, — must  admit  of  just  as 
many  combinations  as  are  equal  to  their  product. 
Thus  every  year  had  its  appropriate  symbol,  by  which 
it  was  at  once  recognized.  And  this  symbol,  preceded 
by  the  proper  number  of  "bundles"  indicating  the 
half-centuries,  showed  the  precise  time  which  had 
elapsed  since  the  national  epoch  of  io9i.44  The  inge- 

43  These   hieroglyphics  were  a  "  rabbit,"   a  "  reed,"  a  "  flint,"  a 
"house."     They  were  taken  as  symbolical  of  the  four  elements,  air, 
water,  fire,  earth,  according  to  Veytia.     (Hist,  antig.,  torn.  i.  cap.  5.) 
It  is  not  easy  to  see  the  connection  between  the  terms  "  rabbit"  and 
"  air,"  which  lead  the  respective  series.*" 

44  The  following  table  of  two  of  the  four  indictions  of  thirteen  years 
each  will  make  the  text  more  clear.    The  first  column  shows  the  actual 
year  of  the  great  cycle,  or  "bundle."     The  second,  the  numerical 
dots  used  in  their  arithmetic.     The  third  is  composed  of  their  hiero 
glyphics  for  rabbit,  reed,  flint,  house,  in  their  regular  order. 


*  [The  fleet  and  noiseless  motions  of  the  animal  seem  to  offer  an 
obvious  explanation  of  the  symbol. — ED.] 


CHRONOLOGY. 


119 


nious   contrivance  of  a  periodical    series,  in  place   of 
the  cumbrous  system  of  hieroglyphical  notation,  is  not 


FIRST  INDICTION. 


Year 
of  the 
Cycle. 

I. 


SECOND   INDICTION. 


Year 
of  the 
Cycle. 


IS- 
16. 

17- 
18. 
19. 

20. 

21. 

22. 
23- 
24. 
25- 
26. 


By  pursuing  the  combinations  through  the  two  remaining  indictions, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  same  number  of  dots  will  never  coincide  with 


120  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

peculiar  to  the  Aztecs,  and  is  to  be  found  among  va 
rious  nations  on  the  Asiatic  continent, — the  same  in 
principle,  though  varying  materially  in  arrangement.43 
The  solar  calendar  above  described  might  have  an 
swered  all  the  purposes  of  the  people ;  but  the  priests 
chose  to  construct  another  for  themselves.  This  was 
called  a  "lunar  reckoning,"  though  nowise  accommo 
dated  to  the  revolutions  of  the  moon.46  It  was  formed, 

the  same  hieroglyphic.  These  tables  are  generally  thrown  into  the 
form  of  wheels,  as  are  those  also  of  their  months  and  days,  having  a 
very  pretty  effect.  Several  have  been  published,  at  different  times, 
from  the  collections  of  Siguenza  and  Boturini.  The  wheel  of  the 
great  cycle  of  fifty-two  years  is  encompassed  by  a  serpent,  which  was 
also  the  symbol  of  "  an  age,"  both  with  the  Persians  and  Egyptians. 
Father  Toribio  seems  to  misapprehend  the  nature  of  these  chrono 
logical  wheels :  "  Tenian  rodelas  y  escudos,  y  en  ellas  pintadas  las 
figuras  y  armas  de  sus  Demonios  con  su  blason."  Hist,  de  los  Indios, 
MS.,  Parte  i,  cap.  4. 

45  Among  the  Chinese,  Japanese,  Moghols,  Mantchous,  and  other 
families  of  the  Tartar  race.    Their  series  are  composed  of  symbols  of 
their  five  elements,  and  the  twelve  zodiacal  signs,  making  a  cycle  of 
sixty  years'  duration.    Their  several  systems  are  exhibited,  in  connec 
tion  with  the  Mexican,  in  the  luminous  pages  of  Humboldt  (Vues 
des  Cordilleres,  p.  149),  who  draws  important  consequences  from  the 
comparison,  to  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  return 'hereafter. 

46  In  this  calendar,  the  months  of  the  tropical  year  were  distributed 
into  cycles  of  thirteen  days,  which,  being  repeated  twenty  times, — = 
the  number  of  days  in  a  solar  month, — completed  the  lunar,  or  astro 
logical,  year  of  260  days  ;  when  the  reckoning  began  again.     "  By  the 
contrivance  of  these  trecenas  (terms  of  thirteen  days)  and  the  cycle  of 
fifty-two  years,"  says  Gama,  "  they  formed  a  luni-solar  period,  most 
exact  for  astronomical  purposes."     (Descripcion,  Parte  i,  p,  27.)    He 
adds  that  these  trecenas  were  suggested  by  the  periods  in  which  the 
moon  is  visible  before  and  after  conjunction.     (Loc.  cit.)     It  seems 
hardly  possible  that  a  people  capable  of  constructing  a  calendar  so 
accurately  on  the  true  principles  of  solar  time  should  so  grossly  err 
as  to  suppose  that  in  this  reckoning  they  really  "  represented  the  daily 


CHRONOLOGY.  1 21 

also,  of  two  periodical  series,  one  of  them  consisting 
of  thirteen  numerical  signs,  or  dots,  the  other,  of  the 
twenty  hieroglyphics  of  the  days.  But,  as  the  product 
of  these  combinations  would  be  only  260,  and  as  some 
confusion  might  arise  from  the  repetition  of  the  same 
terms  for  the  remaining  105  days  of  the  year,  they 
invented  a  third  series,  consisting  of  nine  additional 
hieroglyphics,  which,  alternating  with  the  two  pre 
ceding  series,  rendered  it  impossible  that  the  three 
should  coincide  twice  in  the  same  year,  or  indeed 
in  less  than  2340  days;  since  20  x  13  X  9  =  2340. 47 
Thirteen  was  a  mystic  number,  of  frequent  use  in 
their  tables.48  Why  they  resorted  to  that  of  nine,  on 
this  occasion,  is  not  so  clear.49 

revolutions  of  the  moon."  "The  whole  Eastern  world,"  says  the 
learned  Niebuhr,  "has  followed  the  moon  in  its  calendar;  the  free 
scientific  division  of  a  vast  portion  of  time  is  peculiar  to  the  West. 
Connected  with  the  West  is  that  primeval  extinct  world  which  we  call 
the  New."  History  of  Rome,  vol.  i.  p.  239. 

4"  They  were  named  "companions,"  and  "lords  of  the  night," 
and  were  supposed  to  preside  over  the  night,  as  the  other  signs  did 
over  the  day.  Boturini,  Idea,  p.  57. 

48  Thus,  their  astrological  year  was  divided  into  months  of  thirteen 
days ;  there  were  thirteen  years  in  their  indictions,  which  contained 
each  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  periods  of  thirteen  days,  etc.     It 
is  a  curious  fact  that  the  number  of  lunar  months  of  thirteen  days 
contained  in  a  cycle  of  fifty-two  years,  with  the  intercalation,  should 
correspond  precisely  with  the  number  of  years  in  the  great  Sothic 
period  of  the  Egyptians,  namely,  1491 ;  a  period  in  which  the  seasons 
and  festivals  came  round  to  the  same  place  in  the  year  again.     The 
coincidence  may  be  accidental.       But  a  people  employing  periodical 
series  and  astrological  calculations  have  generally  some  meaning  in 
the  numbers  they  select  and  the  combinations  to  which  they  lead. 

49  According  to  Gama  (Descripcion,  Parte  i,  pp.  75,  76),  because  369 
can  be  divided  by  nine  without  a  fraction  ;  the  nine  "  companions" 
not  being  attached  to  the  five  complementary  days.     But  4,  a  mystic 

VOL.  I. — F  ii 


122  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

This  second  calendar  rouses  a  holy  indignation  in 
the  early  Spanish  missionaries,  and  Father  Sahagun 
loudly  condemns  it,  as  "most  unhallowed,  since  it  is 
founded  neither  on  natural  reason,  nor  on  the  influence 
of  the  planets,  nor  on  the  true  course  of  the  year ;  but 
is  plainly  the  work  of  necromancy,  and  the  fruit  of  a 
compact  with  the  Devil !"  5°  One  may  doubt  whether 
the  superstition  of  those  who  invented  the  scheme  was 
greater  than  that  of  those  who  thus  impugned  it.  At 
all  events,  we  may,  without  having  recourse  to  super 
natural  agency,  find  in  the  human  heart  a  sufficient 
explanation  of  its  origin ;  in  that  love  of  power,  that 

number  much  used  in  their  arithmetical  combinations,  would  have 
answered  the  same  purpose  equally  well.  In  regard  to  this,  McCulloh 
observes,  with  much  shrewdness,  "  It  seems  impossible  that  the  Mex 
icans,  so  careful  in  constructing  their  cycle,  should  abruptly  terminate 
it  with  360  revolutions,  whose  natural  period  of  termination  is  2340." 
And  he  supposes  the  nine  "  companions"  were  used  in  connection 
with  the  cycles  of  260  days,  in  order  to  throw  them  into  the  larger 
ones,  of  2340 ;  eight  of  which,  with  a  ninth  of  260  days,  he  ascertains 
to  be  equal  to  the  great  solar  period  of  52  years.  (Researches,  pp. 
207,  208.)  This  is  very  plausible.  But  in  fact  the  combinations  of  the 
two  first  series,  forming  the  cycle  of  260  days,  were  always  interrupted 
at  the  end  of  the  year,  since  each  new  year  began  \vith  the  same 
hieroglyphic  of  the  days.  The  third  series  of  the  "  companions"  was 
intermitted,  as  above  stated,  on  the  five  unlucky  days  which  closed 
the  year,  in  order,  if  we  may  believe  Boturini,  that  the  first  day  of  the 
solar  year  might  have  annexed  to  it  the  first  of  the  nine  "  compan 
ions,"  which  signified  "  lord  of  the  year"  (Idea,  p.  57) ;  a  result  which 
might  have  been  equally  well  secured,  without  any  intermission  at  all, 
by  taking  5,  another  favorite  number,  instead  of  9,  as  the  divisor.  As 
it  was,  however,  the  cycle,  as  far  as  the  third  series  was  concerned,  did 
terminate  with  360  revolutions.  The  subject  is  a  perplexing  one,  and 
I  can  hardly  hope  to  have  presented  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make 
it  perfectly  clear  to  the  reader. 

s°  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  Introd. 


CHRONOLOGY. 


123 


has  led  the  priesthood  of  many  a  faith  to  affect  a  mys 
tery  the  key  to  which  was  in  their  own  keeping. 

By  means  of  this  calendar,  the  Aztec  priests  kept 
their  own  records,  regulated  the  festivals  and  seasons 
of  sacrifice,  and  made  all  their  astrological  calcula 
tions.51  The  false  science  of  astrology  is  natural  to  a 
state  of  society  partially  civilized,  where  the  mind,  im 
patient  of  the  slow  and  cautious  examination  by  which 
alone  it  can  arrive  at  truth,  launches  at  once  into  the 
regions  of  speculation,  and  rashly  attempts  to  lift  the 
veil — the  impenetrable  veil — which  is  drawn  around 
the  mysteries  of  nature.  It  is  the  characteristic  of  true 
science  to  discern  the  impassable,  but  not  very  obvious, 
limits  which  divide  the  province  of  reason  from  that 
of  speculation.  Such  knowledge  comes  tardily.  How 
many  ages  have  rolled  away,  in  which  powers  that, 
rightly  directed,  might  have  revealed  the  great  laws 
of  nature,  have  been  wasted  in  brilliant  but  barren 
reveries  on  alchemy  and  astrology  ! 

The  latter  is  more  particularly  the  study  of  a  primi 
tive  age ;  when  the  mind,  incapable  of  arriving  at  the 
stupendous  fact  that  the  myriads  of  minute  lights  glow 
ing  in  the  firmament  are  the  centres  of  systems  as  glo 
rious  as  our  own,  is  naturally  led  to  speculate  on  their 
probable  uses,  and  to  connect  them  in  some  way  or 
other  with  man,  for  whose  convenience  every  other 
object  in  the  universe  seems  to  have  been  created.  As 

5i  "  Dans  les  pays  lesplus  differents,"  says  Benjamin  Constant,  con 
cluding  some  sensible  reflections  on  the  sources  of  the  sacerdotal 
power,  "  chez  les  peuples  de  moeurs  les  plus  opposees,  le  sacerdoce  a 
du  au  culte  des  elements  et  des  astres  un  pouvoir  dont  aujourd'hui 
nous  concevons  a  peine  1'idee."  De  la  Religion  (Paris,  1825),  lib.  3, 
ch.  5. 


124  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

the  eye  of  the  simple  child  of  nature  watches,  through 
the  long  nights,  the  stately  march  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  and  sees  the  bright  hosts  coming  up,  one  after 
another,  and  changing  with  the  changing  seasons  of 
the  year,  he  naturally  associates  them  with  those  sea 
sons,  as  the  periods  over  which  they  hold  a  mysterious 
influence.  In  the  same  manner,  he  connects  their  ap 
pearance  with  any  interesting  event  of  the  time,  and 
explores,  in  their  flaming  characters,  the  destinies  of 
the  new-born  infant.52  Such  is  the  origin  of  astrology, 
the  false  lights  of  which  have  continued  from  the  ear 
liest  ages  to  dazzle  and  bewilder  mankind,  till  they 
have  faded  away  in  the  superior  illumination  of  a  com 
paratively  recent  period. 

The  astrological  scheme  of  the  Aztecs  was  founded 
less  on  the  planetary  influences  than  on  those  of  the 
arbitrary  signs  they  had  adopted  for  the  months  arid 
days.  The  character  of  the  leading  sign  in  each  lunar 
cycle  of  thirteen  days  gave  a  complexion  to  the  whole ; 
though  this  was  qualified  in  some  degree  by  the  signs 
of  the  succeeding  days,  as  well  as  by  those  of  the  hours. 
It  was  in  adjusting  these  conflicting  forces  that  the 
great  art  of  the  diviner  was  shown.  In  no  country, 
not  even  in  ancient  Egypt,  were  the  dreams  of  the 
astrologer  more  implicitly  deferred  to.  On  the  birth 

S2  "  It  is  a  gentle  and  affectionate  thought, 
That,  in  immeasurable  heights  above  us, 
At  our  first  birth  the  wreath  of  love  was  woven 
With  sparkling  stars  for  flowers." 

COLERIDGE  :  Translation  of  Wallenstein,  act  2,  sc.  4. 

Schiller  is  more  true  to  poetry  than  history,  when  he  tells  us,  in  the 
beautiful  passage  of  which  this  is  part,  that  the  worship  of  the  stars 
took  the  place  of  classic  mythology.  It  existed  long  before  it. 


!>  TR» 


ASTRONOMY. 


I25 


of  a  child,  he  was  instantly  summoned.  The  time  of 
the  event  was  accurately  ascertained ;  and  the  family 
hung  in  trembling  suspense,  as  the  minister  of  Heaven 
cast  the  horoscope  of  the  infant  and  unrolled  the  dark 
volume  of  destiny.  The  influence  of  the  priest  was 
confessed  by  the  Mexican  in  the  very  first  breath  which 
he  inhaled.53 

We  know  little  further  of  the  astronomical  attain 
ments  of  the  Aztecs.  That  they  were  acquainted  with 
the  cause  of  eclipses  is  evident  from  the  representa 
tion,  on  their  maps,  of  the  disk  of  the  moon  projected 
on  that  of  the  sun.54  Whether  they  had  arranged  a 
system  of  constellations  is  uncertain ;  though  that  they 
recognized  some  of  the  most  obvious,  as  the  Pleiades, 
for  example,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  they  regu 
lated  their  festivals  by  them.  We  know  of  no  astro 
nomical  instruments  used  by  them,  except  the  dial.53 

53  Gama  has  given  us  a  complete  almanac  of  the  astrological  year, 
with  the  appropriate  signs  and  divisions,  showing  with  what  scientific 
skill  it  was  adapted  to  its  various  uses.     (Descripcion,  Parte  i,  pp. 
25-31,  62-76.)     Sahagun  has  devoted  a  whole  book  to  explaining  the 
mystic  import  and  value  of  these  signs,  with  a  minuteness  that  may 
enable  one  to  cast  up  a  scheme  of  nativity  for  himself.    (Hist,  de  Nueva- 
Espana,  lib.  4.)     It  is  evident  he  fully  believed  the  magic  wonders 
which  he  told.     "  It  was  a  deceitful  art,"  he  says,  "pernicious  and 
idolatrous,  and  was  never  contrived  by  human  reason."     The  good 
father  was  certainly  no  philosopher. 

54  See,  among  others,  the  Cod.  Tel.-Rem.,  Part  4,  PI.  22,  ap.  Antiq. 
of  Mexico,  vol.  i. 

55  "  It  can  hardly  be  doubted,"  says  Lord  Kingsborough,  "  that  the 
Mexicans  were  acquainted  with  many  scientific  instruments  of  strange 
invention,  as  compared  with  our  own  ;  whether  the  telescope  may  not 
have  been  of  the  number  is  uncertain  ;  but  the  thirteenth  plate  of  M. 
Dupaix's  Monuments,  Part  Second,  which  represents  a  man  holding 
something  of  a  similar  nature  to  his  eye,  affords  reason  to  suppose 

II* 


126  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

An  immense  circular  block  of  carved  stone,  disinterred 
in  1790,  in  the  great  square  of  Mexico,  has  supplied  an 
acute  and  learned  scholar  with  the  means  of  establish 
ing  some  interesting  facts  in  regard  to  Mexican  sci 
ence.56  This  colossal  fragment,  on  which  the  calendar 
is  engraved,  shows  that  they  had  the  means  of  settling 
the  hours  of  the  day  with  precision,  the  periods  of  the 
solstices  and  of  the  equinoxes,  and  that  of  the  transit 
of  the  sun  across  the  zenith  of  Mexico.57 

We  cannot  contemplate  the  astronomical  science  of 
the  Mexicans,  so  disproportioned  to  their  progress  in 
other  walks  of  civilization,  without  astonishment.  An 
acquaintance  with  some  of  the  more  obvious  principles 
of  astronomy  is  within  the  reach  of  the  rudest  people. 

that  they  knew  how  to  improve  the  powers  of  vision."  (Antiq.  of 
Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  15,  note.)  The  instrument  alluded,  to  is  rudely 
carved  on  a  conical  rock.  It  is  raised  no  higher  than  the  neck  of  the 
person  who  holds  it,  and  looks — to  my  thinking — as  much  like  a  musket 
as  a  telescope  ;  though  I  shall  not  infer  the  use  of  fire-arms  among  the 
Aztecs  from  this  circumstance.  (See  vol.  iv.  PI.  15.)  Captain  Dupaix, 
however,  in  his  commentary  on  the  drawing,  sees  quite  as  much  in  it 
as  his  lordship.  Ibid.,  vol.  v.  p.  241. 

s6  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  i,  sec.  4;  Parte  2,  Apend. — Besides  this 
colossal  fragment,  Gama  met  with  some  others,  designed;  probably,  for 
similar  scientific  uses,  at  Chapoltepec.  Before  he  had  leisure  to  ex 
amine  them,  however,  they  were  broken  up  for  materials  to  build  a 
furnace, — a  fate  not  unlike  that  which  has  too  often  befallen  the  monu 
ments  of  ancient  art  in  the  Old  World. 

57  In  his  second  treatise  on  the  cylindrical  stone,  Gama  dwells  more 
at  large  on  its  scientific  construction,  as  a  vertical  sun-did,  in  order  to 
dispel  the  doubts  of  some  sturdy  skeptics  on  this  point.  (Descripcion, 
Parte  2,  Apend.  i.)  The  civil  day  was  distributed  by  the  Mexicans 
into  sixteen  parts,  and  began,  like  that  of  most  of  the  Asiatic  nations, 
with  sunrise.  M.  de  Humboldt,  who  probably  never  saw  Gama's 
second  treatise,  allows  only  eight  intervals.  Vues  des  Cordilleres, 
p,  128. 


ASTROXOMY. 


127 


With  a  little  care,  they  may  learn  to  connect  the  regular 
changes  of  the  seasons  with  those  of  the  place  of  the 
sun  at  his  rising  and  setting.  They  may  follow  the 
march  of  the  great  luminary  through  the  heavens,  by 
watching  the  stars  that  first  brighten  on  his  evening 
track  or  fade  in  his  morning  beams.  They  may  measure 
a  revolution  of  the  moon,  by  marking  her  phases,  and 
may  even  form  a  general  idea  of  the  number  of  such 
revolutions  in  a  solar  year.  But  that  they  should  be 
capable  of  accurately  adjusting  their  festivals  by  the 
movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  should  fix  the 
true  length  of  the  tropical  year,  with  a  precision  un 
known  to  the  great  philosophers  of  antiquity,  could  be 
the  result  only  of  a  long  series  of  nice  and  patient  ob 
servations,  evincing  no  slight  progress  in  civilization.58 
But  whence  could  the  rude  inhabitants  of  these  moun 
tain-regions  have  derived  this  curious  erudition  ?  Not 
from  the  barbarous  hordes  who  roamed  over  the  higher 
latitudes  of  the  North ;  nor  from  the  more  polished 
races  on  the  Southern  continent,  with  whom,  it  is  ap 
parent,  they  had  no  intercourse.  If  we  are  driven,  in 
our  embarrassment,  like  the  greatest  astronomer  of  our 
age,  to  seek  the  solution  among  the  civilized  commu 
nities  of  Asia,  we  shall  still  be  perplexed  by  finding, 

58  "  Un  calendrier,"  exclaims  the  enthusiastic  Carli,  "  qui  est  regie 
sur  la  revolution  annuelle  du  soleil,  non-seulement  par  1'addition  de 
cinq  jours  tous  les  ans,  mais  encore  par  la  correction  du  bissextile,  doit 
sans  doute  etre  regarde  comme  une  operation  deduite  d'une  etude 
reflechie,  et  d'une  grande  combinaison.  II  faut  done  supposer  chez 
ces  peuples  une  suite  d'observations  astronomiques,  une  idee  distincte 
de  la  sphere,  de  la  declinaison  de  1'ecliptique,  et  1'usage  d'un  calcul 
concernant  les  jours  et  les  heures  des  apparitions  solaires."  Lettres 
Americaines,  torn.  i.  let.  23. 


i28  AZTEC  CIVILIZATION: 

amidst  general  resemblance  of  outline,  sufficient  dis 
crepancy  in  the  details  to  vindicate,  in  the  judgments 
of  many,  the  Aztec  claim  to  originality.59 

I  shall  conclude  the  account  of  Mexican  science 
with  that  of  a  remarkable  festival,  celebrated  by  the 
natives  at  the  termination  of  the  great  cycle  of  fifty-two 
years.  We  have  seen,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  their 
tradition  of  the  destruction  of  the  world  at  four  suc 
cessive  epochs.  They  looked  forward  confidently  to 
another  such  catastrophe,  to  take  place,  like  the  pre 
ceding,  at  the  close  of  a  cycle,  when  the  sun  was  to  be 
effaced  from  the  heavens,  the  human  race  from  the 
earth,  and  when  the  darkness  of  chaos  was  to  settle  on 
the  habitable  globe.  The  cycle  would  end  in  the  latter 
part  of  December,  and  as  the  dreary  season  of  the 
winter  solstice  approached,  and  the  diminished  light 
of  day  gave  melancholy  presage  of  its  speedy  extinction, 
their  apprehensions  increased ;  and  on  the  arrival  of 
the  five  "unlucky"  days  which  closed  the  year  they 
abandoned  themselves  to  despair.60  They  broke  in 
pieces  the  little  images  of  their  household  gods,  in 
whom  they  no  longer  trusted.  The  holy  fires  were 
suffered  to  go  out  in  the  temples,  and  none  were  lighted 
in  their  own  dwellings.  Their  furniture  and  domestic 
utensils  were  destroyed ;  their  garments  torn  in  pieces ; 

59  La  Place,  who  suggests  the  analogy,  frankly  admits  the  difficulty. 
Systeme  du  Monde,  lib.  5,  ch.  3. 

60  M.  Jomard  errs  in  placing  the  new  fire,  with  which  ceremony  the 
old  cycle  properly  concluded,  at  the  winter  solstice.     It  was  not  till 
the  26th  of  December,  if  Gama  is  right.     The  cause  of  M.  Jomard's 
error  is  his  fixing  it  before,  instead  of  after,  the  complementary  days. 
See  his  sensible  letter  on  the  Aztec  calendar,  in  the  Vues  des  Cor- 
dilleres,  p.  309. 


ASTRONOMY. 


129 


and  every  thing  was  thrown  into  disorder,  for  the 
coming  of  the  evil  genii  who  were  to  descend  on  the 
desolate  earth. 

On  the  evening  of  the  last  day,  a  procession  of 
priests,  assuming  the  dress  and  ornaments  of  their  gods, 
moved  from  the  capital  towards  a  lofty  mountain,  about 
two  leagues  distant.  They  carried  with  them  a  noble 
victim,  the  flower  of  their  captives,  and  an  apparatus 
for  kindling  the  new  fire,  the  success  of  which  was  an 
augury  of  the  renewal  of  the  cycle.  On  reaching  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  the  procession  paused  till 
midnight;  when,  as  the  constellation  of  the  Pleiades 
approached  the  zenith,62  the  new  fire  was  kindled  by 
the  friction  of  the  sticks  placed  on  the  wounded  breast 
of  the  victim.61  The  flame  was  soon  communicated  to 
a  funeral  pile,  on  which  the  body  of  the  slaughtered 
captive  was  thrown.  As  the  light  streamed  up  towards 
heaven,  shouts  of  joy  and  triumph  burst  forth  from  the 
countless  multitudes  who  covered  the  hills,  the  terraces 
of  the  temples,  and  the  house-tops,  with  eyes  anxiously 
bent  on  the  mount  of  sacrifice.  Couriers,  with  torches 

61  At  the  actual  moment  of  their  culmination,  according  to  both 
Sahagun  (Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  Apend.)  and  Torquemada 
(Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  10,  cap.  33,  36).  But  this  could  not  be,  as  that 
took  place  at  midnight,  in  November,  so  late  as  the  last  secular 
festival,  which  was  early  in  Montezuma's  reign,  in  1507.  (Gama, 
Descripcion,  Parte  i,  p.  50,  nota. — Humboldt,  Vues  des  Cordilleres, 
pp.  181,  182.)  The  longer  we  postpone  the  beginning  of  the  new 
cycle,  the  greater  must  be  the  discrepancy. 

62  "  On  his  bare  breast  the  cedar  boughs  are  laid  ; 

On  his  bare  breast,  dry  sedge  and  odorous  gums,     ; 
Laid  ready  to  receive  the  sacred  spark, 
And  blaze,  to  herald  the  ascending  Sun, 
Upon  his  living  altar." 

SOUTHEY'S  Madoc,  part  2,  canto  26. 


130  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

lighted  at  the  blazing  beacon,  rapidly  bore  them  over 
every  part  of  the  country;  and  the  cheering  element 
was  seen  brightening  on  altar  and  hearth-stone,  for  the 
circuit  of  many  a  league,  long  before  the  sun,  rising  on 
his  accustomed  track,  gave  assurance  that  a  new  cycle 
had  commenced  its  march,  and  that  the  laws  of  nature 
were  not  to  be  reversed  for  the  Aztecs. 

The  following  thirteen  days  were  given  up  to  fes 
tivity.  The  houses  were  cleansed  and  whitened.  The 
broken  vessels  were  replaced  by  new  ones.  The  people, 
dressed  in  their  gayest  apparel,  and  crowned  with  gar 
lands  and  chaplets  of  flowers,  thronged  in  joyous  pro 
cession  to  offer  up  their  oblations  and  thanksgivings  in 
the  temples.  Dances  and  games  were  instituted,  em 
blematical  of  the  regeneration  of  the  world.  It  was 
the  carnival  of  the  Aztecs  ;  or  rather  the  national 
jubilee,  the  great  secular  festival,  like  that  of  the 
Romans,  or  ancient  Etruscans,  which  few  alive  had 
witnessed  before,  or  could  expect  to  see  again.63 

63  I  borrow  the  words  of  the  summons  by  which  the  people  were 
called  to  the  ludi  seen  lares,  the  secular  games  of  ancient  Rome,  "  quos 
nee  spectassct  quisquam,  nee  spectatunts  csset."  (Suetonius,  Vita  Tib. 
Claudii,  lib.  5.)  The  old  Mexican  chroniclers  warm  into  something 
like  eloquence  in  their  descriptions  of  the  Aztec  festival.  (Torque- 
mada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  10,  cap.  33. — Toribio,  Hist,  de  los  Indies, 
MS.,  Parte  i,  cap.  5. — Sahagun,  Hist,  de'  Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  7,  cap. 
9-12.  See,  also,  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  i,  pp.  52-54, — Clavigero, 
Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  84-86.)  The  English  reader  will  find  a 
more  brilliant  coloring  of  the  same  scene  in  the  canto  of  Madoc  above 
cited, — "  On  the  Close  of  the  Century." 


M.  de  Humboldt  remarked,  many  years  ago,  "  It  were  to  be  wished 
that  some  government  would  publish  at  its  own  expense  the  remains 
of  the  ancient  American  civilization ;  for  it  is  only  by  the  comparison 


LORD    KINGSBOROUGH.  131 

of  several  monuments  that  we  can  succeed  in  discovering  the  meaning 
of  these  allegories,  which  are  partly  astronomical  and  partly  mystic." 
This  enlightened  wish  has  now  been  realized,  not  by  any  government, 
but  by  a  private  individual,  Lord  Kingsborough.  The  great  work 
published  under  his  auspices,  and  so  often  cited  in  this  Introduction, 
appeared  in  London  in  1830.  When  completed  it  will  reach  to  nine 
volumes,  seven  of  which  are  now  before  the  public.  Some  idea  of  its 
magnificence  may  be  formed  by  those  who  have  not  seen  it,  from  the 
fact  that  copies  of  it,  with  colored  plates,  sold  originally  at  ^£175, 
and,  with  uncolored,  at  ^120.  The  price  has  been  since  much  re 
duced.  It  is  designed  to  exhibit  a  complete  view  of  the  ancient  Aztec 
MSS.,  with  such  few  interpretations  as  exist;  the  beautiful  drawings 
of  Castaneda  relating  to  Central  America,  with  the  commentary  of 
Dupaix  ;  the  unpublished  history  of  Father  Sahagun  ;  and,  last,  not 
least,  the  copious  annotations  of  his  lordship. 

Too  much  cannot  be  said  of  the  mechanical  execution  of  the  book, 
— its  splendid  typography,  the  apparent  accuracy  and  the  delicacy  of 
the  drawings,  and  the  sumptuous  quality  of  the  materials.  Yet  the 
purchaser  would  have  been  saved  some  superfluous  expense,  and  the 
reader  much  inconvenience,  if  the  letter-press  had  been  in  volumes 
of  an  ordinary  size.  But  it  is  not  uncommon,  in  works  on  this  mag 
nificent  plan,  to  find  utility  in  some  measure  sacrificed  to  show. 

The  collection  of  Aztec  MSS.,  if  not  perfectly  complete,  is  very 
extensive,  and  reflects  great  credit  on  the  diligence  and  research  of 
the  compiler.  It  strikes  one  as  strange,  however,  that  not  a  single 
document  should  have  been  drawn  from  Spain.  Peter  Martyr  speaks 
of  a  number  having  been  brought  thither  in  his  time.  (De  Insulis 
nuper  Inventis,  p.  368.)  The  Marquis  Spineto  examined  one  in  the 
Escorial,  being  the  same  with  the  Mendoza  Codex,  and  perhaps  the 
original,  since  that  at  Oxford  is  but  a  copy.  (Lectures,  Lect.  7.)  Mr. 
Waddilove,  chaplain  of  the  British  embassy  to  Spain,  gave  a  particular 
account  of  one  to  Dr.  Robertson,  which  he  saw  in  the  same  library 
and  considered  an  Aztec  calendar.  Indeed,  it  is  scarcely  possible  that 
the  frequent  voyagers  to  the  New  World  should  not  have  furnished 
the  mother-country  with  abundant  specimens  of  this  most  interesting 
feature  of  Aztec  civilization.  Nor  should  we  fear  that  the  present 
liberal  government  would  seclude  these  treasures  from  the  inspection 
of  the  scholar. 

Much  cannot  be  said  in  favor  of  the  arrangement  of  these  codices. 
In  some  of  them,  as  the  Mendoza  Codex,  for  example,  the  plates  are 


132  LORD    KINGSBOROUGH. 

not  even  numbered ;  and  one  who  would  study  them  by  the  corre 
sponding  interpretation  must  often  bewilder  himself  in  the  maze  of 
hieroglyphics,  without  a.  clue  to  guide  him.  Neither  is  there  any 
attempt  to  enlighten  us  as  to  the  positive  value  and  authenticity 
of  the  respective  documents,  or  even  their  previous  history,  beyond  a 
barren  reference  to  the  particular  library  from  which  they  have  been 
borrowed.  Little  light,  indeed,  can  be  expected  on  these  matters  ;  but 
we  have  not  that  little.  The  defect  of  arrangement  is  chargeable 
on  other  parts  of  the  work.  Thus,  for  instance,  the  sixth  book  of 
Sahagun  is  transferred  from  the  body  of  the  history  to  which  it  be 
longs,  to  a  preceding  volume;  while  the  grand  hypothesis  of  his 
lordship,  for  which  the  work  was  concocted,  is  huddled  into  notes, 
hitched  on  random  passages  of  the  text,  with  a  good  deal  less  con 
nection  than  the  stories  of  Queen  Scheherezade,  in  the  "  Arabian 
Nights,"  and  not  quite  so  entertaining. 

The  drift  of  Lord  Kingsborough's  speculations  is,  to  establish  the 
colonization  of  Mexico  by  the  Israelites.  To  this  the  whole  battery 
of  his  logic  and  learning  is  directed.  For  this,  hieroglyphics  are  un 
riddled,  manuscripts  compared,  monuments  delineated.  His  theory, 
however,  whatever  be  its  merits,  will  scarcely  become  popular  ;  since, 
instead  of  being  exhibited  in  a  clear  and  comprehensive  form,  readily 
embraced  by  the  mind,  it  is  spread  over  an  infinite  number  of  notes, 
thickly  sprinkled  with  quotations  from  languages  ancient  and  modern, 
till  the  weary  reader,  floundering  about  in  the  ocean  of  fragments, 
with  no  light  to  guide  him,  feels  like  Milton's  Devil,  working  his  way 

through  chaos, — 

"  neither  sea, 
Nor  good  dry  land ;  nigh  foundered,  on  he  fares." 

It  would  be  unjust,  however,  not  to  admit  that  the  noble  author,  if 
his  logic  is  not  always  convincing,  shows  much  acuteness  in  detecting 
analogies  ;  that  he  displays  familiarity  with  his  subject,  and  a  fund  of 
erudition,  though  it  often  runs  to  waste  ;  that,  whatever  be  the  defects 
of  arrangement,  he  has  brought  together  a  most  rich  collection  of 
unpublished  materials  to  illustrate  the  Aztec  and,  in  a  wider  sense, 
American  antiquities  ;  and  that  by  this  munificent  undertaking,  which 
no  government,  probably,  would  have,  and  few  individuals  could  have, 
executed,  he  has  entitled  himself  to  the  lasting  gratitude  of  every 
friend  of  science. 

Another  writer  whose  works  must  be  diligently  consulted  by  every 
student  of  Mexican  antiquities  is  Antonio  Gama.  His  life  contains  as 


GAMA. 


133 


few  incidents  as  those  of  most  scholars.  He  was  born  at  Mexico, 
in  1735,  of  a  respectable  family,  and  was  bred  to  the  law.  He  early 
showed  a  preference  for  mathematical  studies,  conscious  that  in  this 
career  lay  his  strength.  In  1771  he  communicated  his  observations 
on  the  eclipse  of  that  year  to  the  French  astronomer  M.  de  Lalande, 
who  published  them  in  Paris,  with  high  commendations  of  the  author. 
Gama's  increasing  reputation  attracted  the  attention  of  government ; 
and  he  was  employed  by  it  in  various  scientific  labors  of  importance. 
His  great  passion,  however,  was  the  study  of  Indian  antiquities.  He 
made  himself  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  native  races,  their 
traditions,  their  languages,  and,  as  far  as  possible,  their  hieroglyphics. 
He  had  an  opportunity  of  showing  the  fruits  of  this  preparatory  train 
ing,  and  his  skill  as  an  antiquary,  on  the  discovery  of  the  great  calen 
dar-stone,  in  1790.  He  produced  a  masterly  treatise  on  this,  and 
another  Aztec  monument,  explaining  the  objects  to  which  they  were 
devoted,  and  pouring  a  flood  of  light  on  the  astronomical  science  of 
the  aborigines,  their  mythology,  and  their  astrological  system.  He 
afterwards  continued  his  investigations  in  the  same  path,  and  wrote 
treatises  on  the  dial,  hieroglyphics,  and  arithmetic  of  the  Indians. 
These,  however,  were  not  given  to  the  world  till  a  few  years  since, 
when  they  were  published,  together  with  a  reprint  of  the  former  work, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  industrious  Bustamante.  Gama  died  in 
1802,  leaving  behind  him  a  reputation  for  great  worth  in  private  life, — 
one  in  which  the  bigotry  that  seems  to  enter  too  frequently  into  the 
character  of  the  Spanish-Mexican  was  tempered  by  the  liberal  feelings 
of  a  man  of  science.  His  reputation  as  a  writer  stands  high  for  patient 
acquisition,  accuracy,  and  acuteness.  His  conclusions  are  neither 
warped  by  the  love  of  theory  so  common  in  the  philosopher,  nor  by 
the  easy  credulity  so  natural  to  the  antiquary.  He  feels  his  way  with 
the  caution  of  a  mathematician,  whose  steps  are  demonstrations.  M. 
de  Humboldt  was  largely  indebted  to  his  first  work,  as  he  has  emphat 
ically  acknowledged.  But,  notwithstanding  the  eulogiums  of  this 
popular  writer,  and  his  own  merits,  Gama's  treatises  are  rarely  met 
with  out  of  New  Spain,  and  his  name  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  a 
transatlantic  reputation. 


VOL.  I.  12 


CHAPTER    V. 

AZTEC  AGRICULTURE. MECHANICAL  ARTS. MERCHANTS. 

DOMESTIC    MANNERS. 

IT  is  hardly  possible  that  a  nation  so  far  advanced 
as  the  Aztecs  in  mathematical  science  should  not  have 
made  considerable  progress  in  the  mechanical  arts, 
which  are  so  nearly  connected  with  it.  Indeed,  intel 
lectual  progress  of  any  kind  implies  a  degree  of  refine 
ment  that  requires  a  certain  cultivation  of  both  useful 
and  elegant  art.  The  savage  wandering  through  the 
wide  forest,  without  shelter  for  his  head  or  raiment  for 
his  back,  knows  no  other  wants  than  those  of  animal 
appetites,  and,  when  they  are  satisfied,  seems  to  him 
self  to  have  answered  the  only  ends  of  existence.  But 
man,  in  society,  feels  numerous  desires,  and  artificial 
tastes  spring  up,  accommodated  to  the  various  relations 
in  which  he  is  placed^  and  perpetually  stimulating  his 
invention  to  devise  new  expedients  to  gratify  them. 

There  is  a  wide  difference  in  the  mechanical  skill  of 
different  nations ;  but  the  difference  is  still  greater  in 
the  inventive  power  which  directs  this  skill  and  makes 
it  available.  Some  nations  seem  to  have  no  power 
beyond  that  of  imitation,  or,  if  they  possess  invention, 
have  it  in  so  low  a  degree  that  they  are  constantly 
repeating  the  same  idea,  without  a  shadow  of  altera 
tion  or  improvement ;  as  the  bird  builds  precisely  the 


A  GRICUL  TURK,  1 3  5 

same  kind  of  nest  which  those  of  its  own  species  built 
at  the  beginning  of  the  world.  Such,  for  example, 
are  the  Chinese,  who  have  probably  been  familiar  for 
ages  with  the  germs  of  some  discoveries,  of  little  prac 
tical  benefit  to  themselves,  but  which,  under  the  in 
fluence  of  European  genius,  have  reached  a  degree  of 
excellence  that  has  wrought  an  important  change  in 
the  constitution  of  society. 

Far  from  looking  back  and  forming  itself  slavishly 
on  the  past,  it  is  characteristic  of  the  European  intel 
lect  to  be  ever  on  the  advance.  Old  discoveries  be 
come  the  basis  of  new  ones.  It  passes  onward  from 
truth  to  truth,  connecting  the  whole  by  a  succession  of 
links,  as  it  were,  into  the  great  chain  of  science  which 
is  to  encircle  and  bind  together  the  universe.  The 
light  of  learning  is  shed  over  the  labors  of  art.  New 
avenues  are  opened  for  the  communication  both  of 
person  and  of  thought.  New  facilities  are  devised  for 
subsistence.  Personal  comforts,  of  every  kind,  are  in 
conceivably  multiplied,  and  brought  within  the  reach 
of  the  poorest.  Secure  of  these,  the  thoughts  travel 
into  a  nobler  region  than  that  of  the  senses  ;  and  the 
appliances  of  art  are  made  to  minister  to  the  demands 
of  an  elegant  taste  and  a  higher  moral  culture. 

The  same  enlightened  spirit,  applied  to  agriculture, 
raises  it  from  a  mere  mechanical  drudgery,  or  the 
barren  formula  of  traditional  precepts,  to  the  dignity 
of  a  science.  As  the  composition  of  the  earth  is 
analyzed,  man  learns  the  capacity  of  the  soil  that  he 
cultivates ;  and,  as  his  empire  is  gradually  extended 
over  the  elements  of  nature,  he  gains  the  power  to 
stimulate  her  to  her  most  bountiful  and  various  pro- 


136  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

duction.  It  is  with  satisfaction  that  we  can  turn  to 
the  land  of  our  fathers,  as  the  one  in  which  the  experi 
ment  has  been  conducted  on  the  broadest  scale  and 
attended  with  results  that  the  world  has  never  before 
witnessed.  With  equal  truth,  we  may  point  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race  in  both  hemispheres,  as  that  whose 
enterprising  genius  has  contributed  most  essentially  to 
the  great  interests  of  humanity,  by  the  application  of 
science  to  the  useful  arts. 

Husbandry,  to  a  very  limited  extent,  indeed,  was 
practised  by  most  of  the  rude  tribes  of  North  America. 
Wherever  a  natural  opening  in  the  forest,  or  a  rich 
strip  of  interval,  met  their  eyes,  or  a  green  slope  was 
found  along  the  rivers,  they  planted  it  with  beans  and 
Indian  corn.1  The  cultivation  was  slovenly  in  the 
extreme,  and  could  not  secure  the  improvident  natives 
from  the  frequent  recurrence  of  desolating  famines. 
Still,  that  they  tilled  the  soil  at  all  was  a  peculiarity 
which  honorably  distinguished  them  from  other  tribes 
of  hunters,  and  raised  them  one  degree  higher  in  the 
scale  of  civilization. 

Agriculture  in  Mexico  was  in  the  same  advanced 
state  as  the  other  arts  of  social  life.  In  few  countries, 
indeed,  has  it  been  more  respected.  It  was  closely 
interwoven  with  the  civil  and  religious  institutions 
of  the  nation.  There  were  peculiar  deities  to  preside 

1  This  latter  grain,  according  to  Humboldt,  was  found  by  the  Eu 
ropeans  in  the  New  World,  from  the  South  of  Chili  to  Pennsylvania 
(Essai  politique,  torn.  ii.  p.  408)  ;  he  might  have  added,  to  the  St. 
Lawrence.  Our  Puritan  fathers  found  it  in  abundance  on  the  New 
England  coast,  wherever  they  landed.  See  Morton,  New  England's 
Memorial  (Boston,  1826),  p.  68. — Gookin,  Massachusetts  Historical 
Collections,  chap.  3. 


AGRICULTURE.  137 

over  it ;  the  names  of  the  months  and  of  the  religious 
festivals  had  more  or  less  reference  to  it.  The  public 
taxes,  as  we  have  seen,  were  often  paid  in  agricultural 
produce.  All  except  the  soldiers  and  great  nobles, 
even  the  inhabitants  of  the  cities,  cultivated  the  soil. 
The  work  was  chiefly  done  by  the  men ;  the  women 
scattering  the  seed,  husking  the  corn,  and  taking  part 
only  in  the  lighter  labors  of  the  field.2  In  this  they 
presented  an  honorable  contrast  to  the  other  tribes  of 
the  continent,  who  imposed  the  burden  of  agriculture, 
severe  as  it  is  in  the  North,  on  their  women.3  Indeed, 
the  sex  was  as  tenderly  regarded  by  the  Aztecs  in  this 
matter,  as  it  is,  in  most  parts  of  Europe,  at  the  present 
day. 

There  was  no  want  of  judgment  in  the  management 
of  their  ground.  When  somewhat  exhausted,  it  was 
permitted  to  recover  by  lying  fallow.  Its  extreme 
dryness  was  relieved  by  canals,  with  which  the  land 
was  partially  irrigated ;  and  the  same  end  was  pro 
moted  by  severe  penalties  against  the  destruction  of 

2  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  31. — "  Admirable   ex 
ample  for  our  times,"  exclaims  the  good  father,  "when  women  are 
not  only  unfit  for  the  labors  of  the  field,  but  have  too  much  levity  to 
attend  to  their  own  household  !" 

3  A  striking  contrast  also  to  the  Egyptians,  with  whom  some  antiqua 
ries  are  disposed  to  identify  the  ancient  Mexicans.     Sophocles  notices 
the  effeminacy  of  the  men  in  Egypt,  who  stayed  at  home  tending  the 
loom,  while  their  wives  were  employed  in  severe  labors  out  of  doors  : 

"  '£1  TTOLVT'  fKfivui  TOI?  ev  Alyvirrta  VOJU.<H? 
tyvcrLV  KaTeixaadevTe  KO.I  /3tov  rpo^xi?, 
'Etfet  yap  ot  ju.«f  apcreves  Kara  erreya? 
©afcoOcrtf  iaTovpyovvrf;'  ai  6e  avvvonoi. 
Tdfw  /Stow  rpo(/>eta  Tropcrvvovv'  aei." 

SOPHOCL.,  CEdip.  Col.,  v.  337-341. 
12* 


138  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

the  woods,  with  which  the  country,  as  already  noticed, 
was  well  covered  before  the  Conquest.  Lastly,  they 
provided  for  their  harvests  ample  granaries,  which 
were  admitted  by  the  Conquerors  to  be  of  admirable 
construction.  In  this  provision  we  see  the  forecast  of 
civilized  man.4 

Among  the  most  important  articles  of  husbandry, 
we  may  notice  the  banana,  whose  facility  of  cultivation 
and  exuberant  returns  are  so  fatal  to  habits  of  system 
atic  and  hardy  industry.5  Another  celebrated  plant 
was  the  cacao,  the  fruit  of  which  furnished  the  choco 
late, — from  the  Mexican  chocolatl, — now  so  common  a 
beverage  throughout  Europe.6  The  vanilla,  confined 
to  a  small  district  of  the  sea-coast,  was  used  for  the 
same  purposes,  of  flavoring  their  food  and  drink,  as 
with  us.7  The  great  staple  of  the  country,  as,  indeed, 
of  the  American  continent,  was  rnaize,  or  Indian  corn, 
which  grew  freely  along  the  valleys,  and  up  the  steep 
sides  of  the  Cordilleras  to  the  high  level  of  the  table- 

4  Torquemada,  Monarch.   Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  32. — Clavigero,  Stor. 
del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  153-155. — -"  Jamas  padecieron  hambre,"  says 
the  former  writer,  "  sino  en  pocas  ocasiones."     If  these  famines  were 
rare,  they  were  very  distressing,  however,  and  lasted  very  long.  Comp. 
Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  41,  71,  et  alibi. 

5  Oviedo  considers  the  musa  an  imported  plant ;  and  Hernandez, 
in  his  copious  catalogue,  makes  no  mention  of  it  at  all.     But  Hum- 
boldt,  who  has  given  much  attention  to  it,  concludes  that,  if  some 
species  were  brought  into  the  country,  others  were  indigenous.    (Essai 
politique,  torn.  ii.  pp.  382-388.)     If  we  may  credit  Clavigero,  the 
banana  was  the  forbidden  fruit  that  tempted  our  poor  mother  Eve ! 
Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  49,  nota. 

6  Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  306. — Her 
nandez,   De   Historia    Plantarum   Novae   Hispaniae   (Matriti,   1790), 
lib.  6,  cap.  87. 

7  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  8,  cap.  13,  et  alibi. 


AGRICULTURE.  139 

land.  The  Aztecs  were  as  curious  in  its  preparation, 
and  as  well  instructed  in  its  manifold  uses,  as  the  most 
expert  New  England  housewife.  Its  gigantic  stalks,  in 
these  equinoctial  regions,  afford  a  saccharine  matter, 
not  found  to  the  same  extent  in  northern  latitudes,  and 
supplied  the  natives  with  sugar  little  inferior  to  that  of 
the  cane  itself,  which  was  not  introduced  among  them 
till  after  the  Conquest.8  But  the  miracle  of  nature 
was  the  great  Mexican  aloe,  or  maguey,  whose  clus 
tering  pyramids  of  flowers,  towering  above  their  dark 
coronals  of  leaves,  were  seen  sprinkled  over  many  a 
broad  acre  of  the  table-land.  As  we  have  already 
noticed,  its  bruised  leaves  afforded  a  paste  from  which 
paper  was  manufactured  ; 9  its  juice  was  fermented  into 
an  intoxicating  beverage,  pulque,  of  which  the  natives, 
to  this  day,  are  excessively  fond ;  lo  its  leaves  further 
supplied  an  impenetrable  thatch  for  the  more  humble 

8  Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS. — He  extols  the  honey  of  the  maize,  as 
equal  to  that  of  bees.     (Also  Oviedo,  Hist,  natural  de  las  Indias,  cap. 
4,  ap.  Barcia,  torn,  i.)     Hernandez,  who  celebrates  the  manifold  ways 
in  which  the  maize  was  prepared,  derives  it  from  the  Haytian  word 
mafiiz.     Hist.  Plantarum,  lib.  6,  cap.  44,  45. 

9  And  is  still,  in  one  spot  at  least,  San  Angel, — three  leagues  from 
the  capital.     Another  mill  was  to  have  been  established,  a  few  years 
since,  in  Puebla.     Whether  this  has  actually  been  done,  I  am  igno 
rant.    See  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture  to  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  March  12,  1838. 

10  Before  the  Revolution,  the  duties  on  the  pulque  formed  so  im 
portant  a  branch  of  revenue  that  the  cities  of  Mexico,  Puebla,  and 
Toluca  alone  paid  $817,739  to  government.     (Humboldt,  Essai  poli- 
tique,  torn.  ii.  p.  47.)      It  requires  time  to  reconcile  Europeans  to  the 
peculiar  flavor  of  this  liquor,  on  the  merits  of  which  they  are  conse 
quently  much  divided.     There  is  but  one  opinion  among  the  natives. 
The  English  reader  will  find  a  good  account  of  its  manufacture  in 
Ward's  Mexico,  vol.  ii.  pp.  55-60. 


140  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

dwellings ;  thread,  of  which  coarse  stuffs  were  made, 
and  strong  cords,  were  drawn  from  its  tough  and  twisted 
fibres ;  pins  and  needles  were  made  of  the  thorns  at 
the  extremity  of  its  leaves ;  and  the  root,  when  prop 
erly  cooked,  was  converted  into  a  palatable  and  nutri 
tious  food.  The  agave,  in  short,  was  meat,  drink, 
clothing,  and  writing-materials,  for  the  Aztec  !  Surely, 
never  did  Nature  enclose  in  so  compact  a  form  so  many 
of  the  elements  of  human  comfort  and  civilization  !  " 

It  would  be  obviously  out  of  place  to  enumerate  in 
these  pages  all  the  varieties  of  plants,  many  of  them 
of  medicinal  virtue,  which  have  been  introduced  from 
Mexico  into  Europe.  Still  less  can  I  attempt  a  cata 
logue  of  its  flowers,  which,  with  their  variegated  and 

11  Hernandez  enumerates  the  several  species  of  the  maguey,  which 
are  turned  to  these  manifold  uses,  in  his  learned  work,  De  Hist.  Plan- 
.tarum.  (Lib.  7,  cap.  71,  et  seq.)  M.  de  Humboldt  considers  them 
all  varieties  of  the  agave  Americana,  familiar  in  the  southern  parts 
both  of  the  United  States  and  Europe.  (Essai  politique,  torn.  ii.  p. 
487,  et  seq.)  This  opinion  has  brought  on  him  a  rather  sour  rebuke 
from  our  countryman  the  late  Dr.  Perrine,  who  pronounces  them  a 
distinct  species  from  the  American  agave,  and  regards  one  of  the 
kinds,  the  pita,  from  which  the  fine  thread  is  obtained,  as  a  totally  dis 
tinct  genus.  (See  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture.)  Yet 
the  Baron  may  find  authority  for  all  the  properties  ascribed  by  him  to 
the  maguey,  in  the  most  accredited  writers  who  have  resided  more  or 
less  time  in  Mexico.  See,  among  others,  Hernandez,  ubi  supra. — 
Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  9,  cap.  2;  lib.  n,  cap.  7. — 
Toribio,  Hist,  de  los  Indies,  MS.,  Parte  3,  cap.  19. — Carta  del  Lie. 
Zuazo,  MS.  The  last,  speaking  of  the  maguey,  which  produces  the 
fermented  drink,  says  expressly,  "  With  what  remain  of  these  leaves 
they  manufacture  excellent  and  very  fine  cloth,  resembling  holland, 
or  the  finest  linen."  It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  Dr.  Perrine 
shows  himself  intimately  acquainted  with  the  structure  and  habits  of 
the  tropical  plants,  which,  with  such  patriotic  spirit,  he  proposed  to 
introduce  into  Florida. 


MINERALS. 


141 


gaudy  colors,  form  the  greatest  attraction  of  our  green 
houses.  The  opposite  climates  embraced  within  the 
narrow  latitudes  of  New  Spain  have  given  to  it,  prob 
ably,  the  richest  and  most  diversified  flora  to  be  found 
in  any  country  on  the  globe.  These  different  products 
were  systematically  arranged  by  the  Aztecs,  who  under 
stood  their  properties,  and  collected  them  into  nurse 
ries,  more  extensive  than  any  then  existing  in  the  Old 
World.  It  is  not  improbable  that  they  suggested  the 
idea  of  those  "gardens  of  plants"  which  were  intro 
duced  into  Europe  not  many  years  after  the  Conquest.12 
The  Mexicans  were  as  well  acquainted  with  the  min 
eral  as  with  the  vegetable  treasures  of  their  kingdom. 
Silver,  lead,  and  tin  they  drew  from  the  mines  of 
Tasco ;  copper  from  the  mountains  of  Zacotollan. 
These  were  taken  not  only  from  the  crude  masses  on 
the  surface,  but  from  veins  wrought  in  the  solid  rock, 
into  which  they  opened  extensive  galleries.  In  fact, 
the  traces  of  their  labors  furnished  the  best  indications 
for  the  early  Spanish  miners.13  Gold,  found  on  the 
surface,  or  gleaned  from  the  beds  of  rivers,  was  cast 

12  The  first  regular  establishment  of  this  kind,  according  to  Carli, 
was  at  Padua,  in  1545.  Lettres  Americaines,  torn.  i.  chap.  21. 

X3  [Though  I  have  conformed  to  the  views  of  Humboldt  in  regard 
to  the  knowledge  of  mining  possessed  by  the  ancient  Mexicans, 
Senor  Ramirez  thinks  the  conclusions  to  which  I  have  been  led  are 
not  warranted  by  the  ancient  writers.  From  the  language  of  Bernal 
Diaz  and  of  Sahagun,  in  particular,  he  infers  that  their  only  means 
of  obtaining  the  precious  metals  was  by  gathering  such  detached 
masses  as  were  found  on  the  surface  of  the  ground  or  in  the  beds  of 
the  rivers.  The  small  amount  of  silver  in  their  possession  he  regards 
as  an  additional  proof  of  their  ignorance  of  the  proper  method  and 
their  want  of  the  requisite  tools  for  extracting  it  from  the  earth.  See 
Ramirez,  Notas  y  Esclarecimientos,  p.  73.] 


1 42  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

into  bars,  or,  in  the  form  of  dust,  made  part  of  the 
regular  tribute  of  the  southern  provinces  of  the  empire. 
The  use  of  iron,  with  which  the  soil  was  impreg 
nated,  was  unknown  to  them.  Notwithstanding  its 
abundance,  it  demands  so  many  processes  to  prepare 
it  for  use  that  it  has  commonly  been  one  of  the  last 
metals  pressed  into  the  service  of  man.  The  age  of 
iron  has  followed  that  of  brass,  in  fact  as  well  as  in 
fiction.14 

They  found  a  substitute  in  an  alloy  of  tin  and  copper, 
and,  with  tools  made  of  this  bronze,  could  cut  not 
only  metals,  but,  with  the  aid  of  a  silicious  dust,  the 
hardest  substances,  as  basalt,  porphyry,  amethysts,  and 
emeralds.13  They  fashioned  these  last,  which  were 
found  very  large,  into  many  curious  and  fantastic 
forms.  They  cast,  also,  vessels  of  gold  and  silver, 
carving  them  with  their  metallic  chisels  in  a  very 

H  P.  Martyr,  De  Orbe  Novo,  Decades  (Compluti,  1530),  dec,  5,  p. 
191. — Acosta,  lib.  4,  cap.  3. — Humboldt,  Essai  politique,  torn.  iii.  pp. 
114-125. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  34. 

"  Men  wrought  in  brass,"  says  Hesiod,  "  when  iron  did  not  exist." 

XaA/<uj  8'  epyd^ovro'  /uie'Aas  S"  OVK  ecrice  <ri'5ijpo?. 

HESIOD, 'Ep^'a  Aca(.*Hju.e/jai.. 

The  Abbe  Raynal  contends  that  the  ignorance  of  iron  must  necessa 
rily  have  kept  the  Mexicans  in  a  low  state  of  civilization,  since  without 
it  "  they  could  have  produced  no  work  in  metal,  worth  looking  at, 
no  masonry  nor  architecture,  engraving  nor  sculpture."  (History  of 
the  Indies,  Eng.  trans.,  vol.  iii.  b.  6.)  Iron,  however,  if  known,  was 
little  used  by  the  ancient  Egyptians,  whose  mighty  monuments  were 
hewn  with  bronze  tools  ;  while  their  weapons  and  domestic  utensils 
were  of  the  same  material,  as  appears  from  the  green  color  given  to 
them  in  their  paintings. 

*s  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2,  pp.  25-29. — Torquemada.  Monarch. 
Ind.,  ubi  supra. 


MECHANICAL    ARTS.  I^ 

delicate  manner.  Some  of  the  silver  vases  were  so 
large  that  a  man  could  not  encircle  them  with  his 
arms.  They  imitated  very  nicely  the  figures  of  animals, 
and,  what  was  extraordinary,  could  mix  the  metals  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  feathers  of  a  bird,  or  the 
scales  of  a  fish,  should  be  alternately  of  gold  and  silver. 
The  Spanish  goldsmiths  admitted  their  superiority  over 
themselves  in  these  ingenious  works.16 

They  employed  another  tool,  made  of  itztli,  or 
obsidian,  a  dark  transparent  mineral,  exceedingly  hard, 
found  in  abundance  in  their  hills.  They  made  it  into 
knives,  razors,  and  their  serrated  swords.  It  took  a 
keen  edge,  though  soon  blunted.  With  this  they 
wrought  the  various  stones  and  alabasters  employed  in 
the  construction  of  their  public  works  and  principal 
dwellings.  I  shall  defer  a  more  particular  account  of 
these  to  the  body  of  the  narrative,  and  will  only  add 
here  that  the  entrances  and  angles  of  the  buildings  were 
profusely  ornamented  with  images,  sometimes  of  their 
fantastic  deities,  and  frequently  of  animals.17  The  latter 
were  executed  with  great  accuracy.  "The  former," 

16  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  9,  cap.  15-17. — Boturini, 
Idea,  p.  77. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  loc.  cit. — Herrera,  who 
says  they  could  also  enamel,  commends  the  skill  of  the  Mexican  gold 
smiths  in  making  birds  and  animals  with  movable  wings  and  limbs, 
in  a  most  curious  fashion.  (Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  7,  cap.  15.) 
Sir  John  Maundeville,  as  usual, 

"  with  his  hair  on  end 
At  his  own  wonders," 

notices  the  "  gret  marvayle"  of  similar  pieces  of  mechanism  at  the 
court  of  the  grand  Chane  of  Cathay.  See  his  Voiage  and  Travaile, 
chap.  20. 

»?  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  7,  cap.  n. — Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  34.— Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  2, pp.  27,  28. 


144  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

according  to  Torquemada,  "  were  the  hideous  reflection 
of  their  own  souls.  And  it  was  not  till  after  they  had 
been  converted  to  Christianity  that  they  could  model 
the  true  figure  of  a  man."  IS  The  old  chronicler's  facts 
are  well  founded,  whatever  we  may  think  of  his  reasons. 
The  allegorical  phantasms  of  his  religion,  no  doubt, 
gave  a  direction  to  the  Aztec  artist,  in  his  delineation 
of  the  human  figure ;  supplying  him  with  an  imaginary 
beauty  in  the  personification  of  divinity  itself.  As 
these  superstitions  lost  their  hold  on  his  mind,  it  opened 
to  the  influences  of  a  purer  taste ;  and,  after  the  Con 
quest,  the  Mexicans  furnished  many  examples  of  correct, 
and  some  of  beautiful,  portraiture. 

Sculptured  images  were  so  numerous  that  the  founda 
tions  of  the  cathedral  in  the  plaza  mayor,  the  great 
square  of  Mexico,  are  said  to  be  entirely  composed  of 
them.19  This  spot  may,  indeed,  be  regarded  as  the 
Aztec  forum, — the  great  depository  of  the  treasures  of 
ancient  sculpture,  which  now  lie  hid  in  its  bosom. 
Such  monuments  are  spread  all  over  the  capital,  how 
ever,  and  a  new  cellar  can  hardly  be  dug,  or  founda 
tion  laid,  without  turning  up  some  of  the  mouldering 
relics  of  barbaric  art.  But  they  are  little  heeded,  and, 
if  not  wantonly  broken  in  pieces  at  once,  are  usually 
worked  into  the  rising  wall  or  supports  of  the  new 
edifice.20  Two  celebrated  bas-reliefs  of  the  last  Mon- 

18  "  Parece,  que  permitia  Dios,  que  la  figura  de  sus  cuerpos  se 
asimilase  a  la  que  tenian  sus  almas  por  el  pecado,  en  que  siempre 
permanecian."  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  34. 

X9  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  195. 

20  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  i,  p.  i.  Besides  the  plaza  may  or t 
Gama  points  out  the  Square  of  Tlatelolco,  as  a  great  cemetery  of 
ancient  relics.  It  was  the  quarter  to  which  the  Mexicans  retreated, 
on  the  siege  of  the  capital. 


MECHANICAL    ARTS. 


145 


tezuma  and  his  father,  cut  in  the  solid  rock,  in  the 
beautiful  groves  of  Chapoltepec,  were  deliberately  de 
stroyed,  as  late  as  the  last  century,  by  order  of  the 
government !  2I  The  monuments  of  the  barbarian  meet 
with  as  little  respect  from  civilized  man  as  those  of  the 
civilized  man  from  the  barbarian.22 

The  most  remarkable  piece  of  sculpture  yet  disin 
terred  is  the  great  calendar  stone,  noticed  in  the  pre 
ceding  chapter.  It  consists  of  dark  porphyry,  and  in 
its  original  dimensions,  as  taken  from  the  quarry,  is 
computed  to  have  weighed  nearly  fifty  tons.  It  was 
transported  from  the  mountains  beyond  Lake  Chalco, 
a  distance  of  many  leagues,  over  a  broken  country  in  - 
tersected  by  watercourses  and  canals.  In  crossing  a 
bridge  which  traversed  one  of  these  latter,  in  the  capi 
tal,  the  supports  gave  way,  and  the  huge  mass  was 
precipitated  into  the  water,  whence  it  was  with  diffi 
culty  recovered.  The  fact  that  so  enormous  a  fragment 
of  porphyry  could  be  thus  safely  carried  for  leagues,  in 
the  face  of  such  obstacles,  and  without  the  aid  of  cattle, 
• — for  the  Aztecs,  as  already  mentioned,  had  no  animals 
of  draught, — suggests  to  us  no  mean  ideas  of  their 
mechanical  skill,  and  of  their  machinery,  and  implies  a 
degree  of  cultivation  little  inferior  to  that  demanded 

21  Torquemada,  Monarch.   Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  34. — Gama,  Descrip- 
cion,  Parte  2,  pp.  81-83. — These  statues  are  repeatedly  noticed  by  the 
old  writers.     The  last  was  destroyed  in  1754,  when  it  was  seen  by 
Gama,  who  highly  commends  the  execution  of  it.     Ibid. 

22  This  wantonness  of  destruction  provokes  the  bitter  animadver 
sion  of  Martyr,  whose  enlightened  mind  respected  the  vestiges  of 
civilization  wherever  found.     "The  conquerors,"  he  says,  "seldom 
repaired  the  buildings  that  were  defaced.     They  would  rather  sack 
twenty  stately  cities  than  erect  one  good  edifice."     De  Orbe  Novo, 
dec.  5,  cap.  10. 

VOL.  I. — G  13 


146  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

for  the  geometrical  and  astronomical  science  displayed 
in  the  inscriptions  on  this  very  stone.23 

The  ancient  Mexicans  made  utensils  of  earthen-ware 
for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  domestic  life,  numerous 
specimens  of  which  still  exist.24  They  made  cups  and 
vases  of  a  lackered  or  painted  wood,  impervious  to  wet 
and  gaudily  colored.  Their  dyes  were  obtained  from 
both  mineral  and  vegetable  substances.  Among  them 
was  the  rich  crimson  of  the  cochineal,  the  modern  rival 
of  the  famed  Tyrian  purple.  It  was  introduced  into 
Europe  from  Mexico,  where  the  curious  little  insect 
was  nourished  with  great  care  on  plantations  of  cactus, 
since  fallen  into  neglect.25  The  natives  were  thus 
enabled  to  give  a  brilliant  coloring  to  the  webs  which 
were  manufactured,  of  every  degree  of  fineness,  from 
the  cotton  raised  in  abundance  throughout  the  warmer 
regions  of  the  country.  They  had  the  art,  also,  of 
interweaving  with  these  the  delicate  hair  of  rabbits  and 
other  animals,  which  made  a  cloth  of  great  warmth  as 

23  Gama,  Descripcion,  Parte  i,  pp,  110-114. — Humboldt,  Essai 
politique,  torn.  ii.  p.  40. — Ten  thousand  men  were  employed  in  the 
transportation  of  this  enormous  mass,  according  to  Tezozomoc,  whose 
narrative,  with  all  the  accompanying  prodigies,  is  minutely  tran 
scribed  by  Bustamante.  The  Licentiate  shows  an  appetite  for  the 
marvellous  which  might  excite  the  envy  of  a  monk  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  (See  Descripcion,  nota,  loc.  cit.)  The  English  traveller  La- 
trobe  accommodates  the  wonders  of  nature  and  art  very  well  to  each 
other,  by  suggesting  that  these  great  masses  of  stone  were  transported 
by  means  of  the  mastodon,  whose  remains  are  occasionally  disinterred 
in  the  Mexican  Valley.  Rambler  in  Mexico,  p.  145. 

2*  A  great  collection  of  ancient  pottery,  with  various  other  specimens 
of  Aztec  art,  the  gift  of  Messrs.  Poinsett  and  Keating,  is  deposited  in 
the  Cabinet  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  at  Philadelphia. 
See  the  Catalogue,  ap.  Transactions,  vol.  iii.  p.  510. 

=5  Hernandez,  Hist.  Plantarum,  lib.  6,  cap.  116. 


MECHANICAL    ARTS. 


147 


well  as  beauty,  of  a  kind  altogether  original ;  and  on 
this  they  often  laid  a  rich  embroidery,  of  birds,  flowers, 
or  some  other  fanciful  device.26 

But  the  art  in  which  they  most  delighted  was  their 
plumajc,  or  feather-work.  With  this  they  could  pro 
duce  all  the  effect  of  a  beautiful  mosaic.  The  gorgeous 
plumage  of  the  tropical  birds,  especially  of  the  parrot 
tribe,  afforded  every  variety  of  color ;  and  the  fine 
down  of  the  humming-bird,  which  revelled  in  swarms 
among  the  honeysuckle  bowers  of  Mexico,  supplied 
them  with  soft  aerial  tints  that  gave  an  exquisite  finish 
to  the  picture.  The  feathers,  pasted  on  a  fine  cotton 
web,  were  wrought  into  dresses  for  the  wealthy,  hang 
ings  for  apartments,  and  ornaments  for  the  temples. 
No  one  of  the  American  fabrics  excited  such  admira 
tion  in  Europe,  whither  numerous  specimens  were  sent 
by  the  Conquerors.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  so  graceful 
an  art  should  have  been  suffered  to  fall  into  decay.27 

26  Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  7, 
cap.  15. — Boturini,   Idea,  p.  77. — It  is    doubtful  how  far   they  were 
acquainted  with  the  manufacture  of  silk.     Carli  supposes  that  what 
Cortes  calls  silk  was  only  the  fine  texture  of  hair,  or  down,  mentioned 
In  the  text.     (Lettres  Americaines,  torn.  i.  let.  21.)     But  it  is  certain 
they  had  a  species  of  caterpillar,  unlike  our  silkworm,  indeed,  which 
spun  a  thread  that  was  sold  in  the  markets  of  ancient  Mexico.     See 
the  Essai  politique  (torn.  iii.  pp.  66-69),  where  M.  de  Humboldt  has 
collected  some  interesting  facts  in  regard  to  the  culture  of  silk  by  the 
Aztecs.     Still,  that  the  fabric  should  be  a  matter  of  uncertainty  at  all 
shows  that  it  could  not  have  reached  any  great  excellence  or  extent. 

27  Carta  del  Lie.   Zuazo,  MS.— Acosta,  lib.  4,  cap.  37. — Sahagun, 
Hist,  de  Xueva-Espana,  lib.  9,  cap.  18-21.— Toribio,  Hist,  de  los  In- 
dios,  MS.,  Parte  i,  cap.  15. —  Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio, 
torn.  iii.  fol.  306.—  Count  Carli  is  in  raptures  with  a  specimen  of  feather- 
painting  which  he  saw  in  Strasbourg.     "  Never  did  I  behold  anything 
so  exquisite,'   he  says,  "  for  brilliancy  and  nice  gradation  of  color,  and 


1 48  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

There  were  no  shops  in  Mexico,  but  the  various 
manufactures  and  agricultural  products  were  brought 
together  for  sale  in  the  great  market-places  of  the  prin 
cipal  cities.  Fairs  were  held  there  every  fifth  day, 
and  were  thronged  by  a  numerous  concourse  of  per 
sons,  who  came  to  buy  or  sell  from  all  the  neighboring 
country.  A  particular  quarter  was  allotted  to  each 
kind  of  article.  The  numerous  transactions  were  con 
ducted  without  confusion,  and  with  entire  regard  to 
justice,  under  the  inspection  of  magistrates  appointed 
for  the  purpose.  The  traffic  was  carried  on  partly  by 
barter,  and  partly  by  means  of  a  regulated  currency, 
of  different  values.  This  consisted  of  transparent  quills 
of  gold  dust ;  of  bits  of  tin,  cut  in  the  form  of  a  T ; 
and  of  bags  of  cacao,  containing  a  specified  number 
of  grains.  "Blessed  money,"  exclaims  Peter  Martyr, 
"which  exempts  its  possessors  from  avarice,  since  it 
cannot  be  long  hoarded,  nor  hidden  under  ground  !"  ** 

There  did  not  exist  in  Mexico  that  distinction  of 
castes  found  among  the  Egyptian  and  Asiatic  nations. 

for  beauty  of  design.  No  European  artist  could  have  made  such  a 
thing."  (Lettres  Americaines,  let.  21,  note.)  There  is  still  one  place, 
Patzquaro,  where,  according  to  Bustamante,  they'  preserve  some 
knowledge  of  this  interesting  art,  though  it  is  practised  on  a  very 
limited  scale  and  at  great  cost.  Sahagun,  ubi  supra,  nota. 

28  "  O  felicem  monetam,  quae  suavem  utilemque  prrebet  humano 
generi  potum,  et  a  tartarea  peste  avaritiae  suos  immunes  servat  pos- 
sessores,  quod  suffodi  aut  diu  servari  nequeat !"  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec. 
5,  cap.  4. — (See,  also,  Carta  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  100,  et  seq. 
— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  lib.  8,  cap.  36. — Toribio,  Hist,  de 
los  Indies,  MS.,  Parte  3,  cap.  8.— Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS.)  The 
substitute  for  money  throughout  the  Chinese  empire  was  equally  simple 
in  Marco  Polo's  time,  consisting  of  bits  of  stamped  paper,  made  from 
the  inner  bark  of  the  mulberry-tree.  See  Viaggi  di  Messer  Marco 
Polo,  gentil'  huomo  Venetiano,  lib.  2,  cap.  18,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  ii. 


MERCHANTS. 


149 


It  was  usual,  however,  for  the  son  to  follow  the  occupa 
tion  of  his  father.  The  different  trades  were  arranged 
into  something  like  guilds ;  each  having  a  particular 
district  of  the  city  appropriated  to  it,  with  its  own 
chief,  its  own  tutelar  deity,  its  peculiar  festivals,  and 
the  like.  Trade  was  held  in  avowed  estimation  by 
the  Aztecs.  ''Apply  thyself,  my  son,"  was  the  ad 
vice  of  an  aged  chief,  "to  agriculture,  or  to  feather- 
work,  or  some  other  honorable  calling.  Thus  did 
your  ancestors  before  you.  Else  how  would  they  have 
provided  for  themselves  and  their  families?  Never 
was  it  heard  that  nobility  alone  was  able  to  maintain 
its  possessor. ' ' 29  Shrewd  maxims,  that  must  have 
sounded  somewhat  strange  in  the  ear  of  a  Spanish 
hidalgo  !  3° 

But  the  occupation  peculiarly  respected  was  that  of 
the  merchant.  It  formed  so  important  and  singular  a 
feature  of  their  social  economy  as  to  merit  a  much 
more  particular  notice  than  it  has  received  from  his 
torians.  The  Aztec  merchant  was  a  sort  of  itinerant 
trader,  who  made  his  journeys  to  the  remotest  borders 
of  Anahuac,  and  to  the  countries  beyond,  carrying 
with  him  merchandise  of  rich  stuffs,  jewelry,  slaves, 
and  other  valuable  commodities.  The  slaves  were 
obtained  at  the  great  market  of  Azcapozalco,  not  many 
leagues  from  the  capital,  where  fairs  were  regularly 

29  "  Procurad  de  saber  algun  oficio  honroso,  como  es  el  hacer  obras 
de  pluma  y  otros  oficios  mecanicos.  .  .  .  Mirad  que  tengais  cuidado 
de  lo  tocante  a  la  agricultura.  .  .  .  En  ninguna  parte  he  visto  que 
alguno  se  mantenga  por  su  nobleza."  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva- 
Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  17. 

3°  Col.  de   Mendoza,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI.  71 ;  vol.  vi. 
p.  86. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  41. 
13* 


150  ; AZTEC    CIVILIZATION1. 

held  for  the  sale  of  these  unfortunate  beings.  They 
were  brought  thither  by  their  masters,  dressed  in  their 
gayest  apparel,  and  instructed  to  sing,  dance,  and  dis 
play  their  little  stock  of  personal  accomplishments,  so 
as  to  recommend  themselves  to  the  purchaser.  Slave- 
dealing  was  an  honorable  calling  among  the  Aztecs.31 

With  this  rich  freight,  the  merchant  visited  the  dif 
ferent  provinces,  always  bearing  some  present  of  value 
from  his  own  sovereign  to  their  chiefs,  and  usually 
receiving  others  in  return,  with  a  permission  to  trade. 
Should  this  be  denied  him,  or  should  he  meet  with 
indignity  or  violence,  he  had  the  means  of  resistance 
in  his  power.  He  performed  his  journeys  with  a  num 
ber  of  companions  of  his  own  rank,  and  a  large  body 
of  inferior  attendants  who  were  employed  to  transport 
the  goods.  Fifty  or  sixty  pounds  were  the  usual  load 
for  a  man.  The  whole  caravan  went  armed,  and  so 
well  provided  against  sudden  hostilities  that  they  could 
make  good  their  defence,  if  necessary,  till  reinforced 
from  home.  In  one  instance,  a  body  of  these  militant 
traders  stood  a  siege  of  four  years  in  the  town  of  Ayot- 
lan,  which  they  finally  took  from  the  enemy.32  Their 
own  government,  however,  was  always  prompt  to  em 
bark  in  a  war  on  this  ground,  finding  it  a  very  conve 
nient  pretext  for  extending  the  Mexican  empire.  It 
was  not  unusual  to  allow  the  merchants  to  raise  levies 
themselves,  which  were  placed  under  their  command. 
It  was,  moreover,  very  common  for  the  prince  to  em 
ploy  the  merchants  as  a  sort  of  spies,  to  furnish  him 
information  of  the  state  of  the  countries  through  which 

31  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  9,  cap.  4,  10-14. 

32  Ibid.,  lib.  9,  cap.  2. 


MERCHANTS.  15 ! 

they  passed,   and  the  dispositions  of  the  inhabitants 
towards  himself.33 

Thus  their  sphere  of  action  was  much  enlarged  be 
yond  that  of  a  humble  trader,  and  they  acquired  a  high 
consideration  in  the  body  politic.  They  were  allowed 
to  assume  insignia  and  devices  of  their  own.  Some 
of  their  number  composed  what  is  called  by  the  Span 
ish  writers  a  council  of  finance  ;  at  least,  this  was  the 
case  in  Tezcuco.34  They  were  much  consulted  by  the 
monarch,  who  had  some  of  them  constantly  near  his 
person,  addressing  them  by  the  title  of  "uncle,"  which 
may  remind  one  of  that  of  primo,  or  "cousin,"  by 
which  a  grandee  of  Spain  is  saluted  by  his  sovereign. 
They  were  allowed  to  have  their  own  courts,  in  which 
civil  and  criminal  cases,  not  excepting  capital,  were 
determined  ;  so  that  they  formed  an  independent  com 
munity,  as  it  were,  of  themselves.  And,  as  their  va 
rious  traffic  supplied  them  with  abundant  stores  of 
wealth,  they  enjoyed  many  of  the  most  essential  ad 
vantages  of  an  hereditary  aristocracy.35 

33  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  9,  cap.  2,  4. — In  the  Men- 
doza  Codex  is  a  painting  representing  the  execution  of  a  cacique  and 
his  family,  with  the  destruction  of  his  city,  for  maltreating  the  persons 
of  some  Aztec  merchants.     Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.  PI.  67. 

34  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  41. — Ixtlilxochitl  gives 
a  curious  story  of  one  of  the  royal  family  of  Tezcuco,  who  offered, 
with  two  other  merchants,  otros  mcrcaderes,  to  visit  the  court  of  a 
hostile  cacique  and  bring  him  dead  or  alive  to  the  capital.     They 
availed  themselves  of  a  drunken  revel,  at  which  they  were  to  have 
been  sacrificed,  to  effect  their  object.     Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  62. 

35  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  9,  cap.  2,  5. — The  ninth 
book  is  taken  up  with  an  account  of  the  merchants,  their  pilgrimages, 
the  religious  rites  on  their  departure,  and  the  sumptuous  way  of  living 
on  their  return.    The  whole  presents  a  very  remarkable  picture,  show- 


152  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

That  trade  should  prove  the  path  to  eminent  political 
preferment  in  a  nation  but  partially  civilized,  where 
the  names  of  soldier  and  priest  are  usually  the  only 
titles  to  respect,  is  certainly  an  anomaly  in  history. 
It  forms  some  contrast  to  the  standard  of  the  more 
polished  monarchies  of  the  Old  World,  in  which  rank 
is  supposed  to  be  less  dishonored  by  a  life  of  idle  ease 
or  frivolous  pleasure  than  by  those  active  pursuits  which 
promote  equally  the  prosperity  of  the  state  and  of  the 
individual.  If  civilization  corrects  many  prejudices, 
it  must  be  allowed  that  it  creates  others. 

We  shall  be  able  to  form  a  better  idea  of  the  actual 
refinement  of  the  natives  by  penetrating  into  their 
domestic  life  and  observing  the  intercourse  between 
the  sexes.  We  have,  fortunately,  the  means  of  doing 
this.  We  shall  there  find  the  ferocious  Aztec  frequently 
displaying  all  the  sensibility  of  a.  cultivated  nature; 
consoling  his  friends  under  affliction,  or  congratulating 
them  on  their  good  fortune,  as  on  occasion  of  a  mar 
riage,  or  of  the  birth  or  the  baptism  of  a  child,  when 
he  was  punctilious  in  his  visits,  bringing  presents  of 
costly  dresses  and  ornaments,  or  the  more  simple  offer 
ing  of  flowers,  equally  indicative  of  his  sympathy. 
The  visits  at  these  times,  though  regulated  with  all  the 
precision  of  Oriental  courtesy,  were  accompanied  by 
expressions  of  the  most  cordial  and  affectionate  regard.36 

ing  they  enjoyed  a  consideration,  among  the  half-civilized  nations  of 
Anahuac,  to  which  there  is  no  parallel,  unless  it  be  that  possessed  by 
the  merchant-princes  of  an  Italian  republic,  or  the  princely  merchants 
of  our  own. 

36  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  23-37. — Camargo, 
Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — These  complimentary  attentions  were  paid  at 
stated  seasons,  even  during  pregnancy.  The  details  are  given  with 


DOMESTIC   MANNERS.  ^3 

The  discipline  of  children,  especially  at  the  public 
schools,  as  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  was  exceed 
ingly  severe.37  But  after  she  had  come  to  a  mature 
age  the  Aztec  maiden  was  treated  by  her  parents  with 
a  tenderness  from  which  all  reserve  seemed  banished. 
In  the  counsels  to  a  daughter  about  to  enter  into  life, 
they  conjured  her  to  preserve  simplicity  in  her  manners 
and  conversation,  uniform  neatness  in  her  attire,  with 
strict  attention  to  personal  cleanliness.  They  incul 
cated  modesty,  as  the  great  ornament  of  a  woman,  and 
implicit  reverence  for  her  husband ;  softening  their 
admonitions  by  such  endearing  epithets  as  showed  the 
fulness  of  a  parent's  love.38 

abundant  gravity  and  minuteness  by  Sahagun,  who  descends  to  par 
ticulars  which  his  Mexican  editor,  Bustamante,  has  excluded,  as  some 
what  too  unreserved  for  the  public  eye.  If  they  were  more  so  than 
some  of  the  editor's  own  notes,  they  must  have  been  very  communi 
cative  indeed. 

37  Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  112-134. — The  Third  Part  of  the  Col.  de 
Mendoza  (Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  i.)  exhibits  the  various  ingenious 
punishments  devised  for  the  refractory  child.     The  flowery  path  of 
knowledge  was  well  strewed  with  thorns  for  the  Mexican  tyro. 

38  Zurita,  Rapport,  pp.  151-160. — Sahagun  has  given  us  the  admo 
nitions  of  both  father  and  mother  to  the  Aztec  maiden  on  her  coming 
to  years  of  discretion.     What  can  be  more  tender  than  the  beginning 
of  the  mother's  exhortation?     "  Hija  mia  muy  amada,  muy  querida 
palomita :  ya  has  oido  y  notado  las  palabras  que  tu  senor  padre  te  ha 
dicho ;  ellas  son  palabras  preciosas,  y  que  raramente  se  dicen  ni  se 
oyen,  las  quales  han  procedido  de  las  entranas  y  corazon  en  que 
estaban  atesoradas ;  y  tu  muy  amado  padre  bien  sabe  que  eres  su 
hija,  engendrada  de  el,  eres  su  sangre  y  su  carne,  y  sabe  Dios  nuestro 
senor  que  es  asi ;  aunque  eres  muger,  e  imagen  de  tu  padre  £  que  mas 
te  puedo  decir,  hija  mia,  de  lo  que  ya  esta  dicho  ?"     (Hist,  de  Nueva- 
Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  19.)     The  reader  will  find  this  interesting  docu 
ment,  which  enjoins  so  much  of  what  is  deemed  most  essential  among 
civilized  nations,  translated  entire  in  the  Appendix,  Part  2,  No.  I. 


154  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

Polygamy  was  permitted  among  the  Mexicans,  though 
chiefly  confined,  probably,  to  the  wealthiest  classes.39 
And  the  obligations  of  the  marriage  vow,  which  was 
made  with  all  the  formality  of  a  religious  ceremony, 
were  fully  recognized,  and  impressed  on  both  parties. 
The  women  are  described  by  the  Spaniards  as  pretty, 
unlike  their  unfortunate  descendants  of  the  present 
day,  though  with  the  same  serious  and  rather  melan 
choly  cast  of  countenance.  Their  long  black  hair, 
covered,  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  by  a  veil  made 
of  the  fine  web  of  the  pita,  might  generally  be  seen 
wreathed  with  flowers,  or,  among  the  richer  people, 
with  strings  of  precious  stones,  and  pearls  from  the 
Gulf  of  California.  They  appear  to  have  been  treated 
with  much  consideration  by  their  husbands,  and  passed 
their  time  in  indolent  tranquillity,  or  in  such  feminine 
occupations  as  spinning,  embroidery,  and  the  like, 
while  their  maidens  beguiled  the  hours  by  the  rehearsal 
of  traditionary  tales  and  ballads.40 

The  women  partook  equally  with  the  men  of  social 
festivities  and  entertainments.  These  were  often  con 
ducted  on  a  large  scale,  both  as  regards  the  number  of 
guests  and  the  costliness  of  the  preparations.  Numer 
ous  attendants,  of  both  sexes,  waited  at  the  banquet. 

39  Yet  we  find  the  remarkable  declaration,  in  the  counsels  of  a  father 
to  his  son,  that,  for  the  multiplication  of  the  species,  God  ordained 
one  man  only  for  one  woman.  "  Nota,  hijo  mio,  lo  que  te  digo,  inira 
que  el  mundo  ya  tiene  este  estilo  de  engendrar  y  multiplicar,  y  para 
esta  generacion  y  multiplicacion,  ordeno  Dios  que  una  muger  usase 
de  un  varon,  y  un  varon  de  una  muger."  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva- 
Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  21. 

4°  Ibid.,  lib.  6,  cap.  21-23  •  ^t>.  8,  cap.  23. — Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo, 
ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  305. — Carta  del  Lie.  Zuazo,  MS. 


DOMESTIC   MANNERS. 


'55 


The  halls  were  scented  with  perfumes,  and  the  courts 
strewed  with  odoriferous  herbs  and  flowers,  which  were 
distributed  in  profusion  among  the  guests,  as  they 
arrived.  Cotton  napkins  and  ewers  of  water  were 
placed  before  them,  as  they  took  their  seats  at  the 
board ;  for  the  venerable  ceremony  of  ablution 4I  be 
fore  and  after  eating  was  punctiliously  observed  by  the 
Aztecs.42  Tobacco  was  then  offered  to  the  company, 
in  pipes,  mixed  up  with  aromatic  substances,  or  in  the 
form  of  cigars,  inserted  in  tubes  of  tortoise-shell  or 
silver.  They  compressed  the  nostrils  with  the  fingers, 
while  they  inhaled  the  smoke,  which  they  frequently 

**  As  old  as  the  heroic  age  of  Greece,  at  least.  We  may  fancy 
ourselves  at  the  table  of  Penelope,  where  water  in  golden  ewers  was 
poured  into  silver  basins  for  the  accommodation  of  her  guests,  before 
beginning  the  repast : 

"  XepiujSo.  5*  a/tA(f>i7roAo?  rrpo\6<a  eTre\eve  <f>epov<ra. 
Ka\7j,  \pvcrfir],  VTrep  apyvpeoio  A«^TJTO?, 
Nn//aa^at  '  TTapa  Se  fecrTrjy  eTayucrcre  rpdne^av." 

OAY22.  A. 

The  feast  affords  many  other  points  of  analogy  to  the  Aztec,  inferring 
a  similar  stage  of  civilization  in  the  two  nations.  One  may  be  sur 
prised,  however,  to  find  a  greater  profusion  of  the  precious  metals  in 
the  barren  isle  of  Ithaca  than  in  Mexico.  But  the  poet's  fancy  was  a 
richer  mine  than  either. 

42Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  6,  cap.  22. — Amidst  some 
excellent  advice  of  a  parent  to  his  son,  on  his  general  deportment, 
we  find  the  latter  punctiliously  enjoined  not  to  take  his  seat  at  the 
board  till  he  has  washed  his  face  and  hands,  and  not  to  leave  it  till  he 
has  repeated  the  same  thing,  and  cleansed  his  teeth.  The  directions 
are  given  with  a  precision  worthy  of  an  Asiatic.  "  Al  principio  de  la 
comida  labarte  has  las  manos  y  la  boca,  y  donde  te  juntares  con  otros 
d  comer,  no  te  sientes  luego ;  mas  antes  tomaras  el  agua  y  la  jicara 
para  que  se  laben  los  otros,  y  echarles  has  aguad  los  manos,  y  despues 
de  esto,  cojerds  lo  que  se  ha  caido  por  el  suelo  y  barreras  el  lugar  de 
la  comida,  y  tambien  despues  de  comer  lav-ards  te  las  manos  y  la  boca, 
y  limpiards  los  dientes."  Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 


156  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

swallowed.  Whether  the  women,  who  sat  apart  from 
the  men  at  table,  were  allowed  the  indulgence  of  the 
fragrant  weed,  as  in  the  most  polished  circles  of  modern 
Mexico,  is  not  told  us.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the 
Aztecs  also  took  the  dried  leaf  in  the  pulverized  form 
of  snuff.43 

The  table  was  well  provided  with  substantial  meats, 
especially  game ;  among  which  the  most  conspicuous 
was  the  turkey,  erroneously  supposed,  as  its  name  im 
ports,  to  have  come  originally  from  the  East.44  These 

43  Rel.    d'un   gentil'  huomo,   ap.    Ramusio,    torn.    iii.    fol.    306. — 
Sahagun,   Hist,  de   Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  cap.  37. —  Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  23. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn, 
ii.  p.  227. — The  Aztecs  used  to  smoke  after  dinner,  to  prepare  for  the 
siesta,  in  which  they  indulged  themselves  as  regularly  as  an  old  Cas- 
tilian. — Tobacco,  in  Mexican  yetl,  is  derived  from  a  Haytian  word, 
tabaco.     The  natives  of  Hispaniola,  being  the  first  with  whom  the 
Spaniards  had  much  intercourse,  have  supplied  Europe  with  the  names 
of  several  important  plants. — Tobacco,  in  some  form  or  other,  was 
used  by  almost  all  the  tribes  of  the  American  continent,  from  the 
Northwest  Coast  to  Patagonia.     (See  McCulloh,  Researches,  pp.  91- 
94.)     Its  manifold  virtues,  both  social  and  medicinal,  are  profusely 
panegyrized  by  Hernandez,  in  his  Hist.  Plantarum,  lib.  2,  cap.  109. 

44  This  noble  bird  was  introduced  into  Europe  from  Mexico.     The 
Spaniards  called  it  gallopavo,  from  its  resemblance  to'  the  peacock. 
See  Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.   Ramusio  (torn.  iii.  fol.  306) ;  also 
Oviedo  (Rel.  Sumaria,  cap.  38),  the  earliest  naturalist  who  gives  an 
account  of  the  bird,  which  he  saw  soon  after  the  Conquest,  in  the 
West  Indies,  whither  it  had  been  brought,  as  he  says,  from  New  Spain. 
The  Europeans,  however,  soon  lost  sight  of  its  origin,  and  the  name 
"  turkey"  intimated  the  popular  belief  of  its  Eastern  origin.     Several 
eminent  writers  have  maintained  its  Asiatic  or  African  descent ;  but 
they  could  not  impose  on  the  sagacious  and  better-instructed  Buffon. 
(See  Histoire  naturelle,  art.  Dindon.)      The  Spaniards  saw  immense 
numbers  of  turkeys  in   the   domesticated  state,  on   their  arrival  in 
Mexico,  where  they  were  more  common   than   any  other  poultry. 
They  were  found  wild,  not  only  in  New  Spain,  but  all  along  the  con- 


DOMESTIC   MANNERS. 


157 


more  solid  dishes  were  flanked  by  others  of  vegetables 
and  fruits,  of  every  delicious  variety  found  on  the 
North  American  continent.  The  different  viands  were 
prepared  in  various  ways,  with  delicate  sauces  and  sea 
soning,  of  which  the  Mexicans  were  very  fond.  Their 
palate  was  still  further  regaled  by  confections  and  pas 
try,  for  which  their  maize-flour  and  sugar  supplied 
ample  materials.  One  other  dish,  of  a  disgusting 
nature,  was  sometimes  added  to  the  feast,  especially 
when  the  celebration  partook  of  a  religious  character. 
On  such  occasions  a  slave  was  sacrificed,  and  his  flesh, 
elaborately  dressed,  formed  one  of  the  chief  ornaments 
of  the  banquet.  Cannibalism,  in  the  guise  of  an  Epi 
curean  science,  becomes  even  the  more  revolting.45 

The  meats  were  kept  warm  by  chafing-dishes.  The 
table  was  ornamented  with  vases  of  silver,  and  some 
times  gold,  of  delicate  workmanship.  The  drinking- 
cups  and  spoons  were  of  the  same  costly  materials,  and 
likewise  of  tortoise-shell.  The  favorite  beverage  was 
the  chocolatl,  flavored  with  vanilla  and  different  spices. 

tinent,  in  the  less  frequented  places,  from  the  Northwestern  territory 
of  the  United  States  to  PanamA.  The  wild  turkey  is  larger,  more 
beautiful,  and  every  way  an  incomparably  finer  bird  than  the  tame. 
Franklin,  with  some  point,  as  well  as  pleasantry,  insists  on  its  prefer 
ence  to  the  bald  eagle  as  the  national  emblem.  (See  his  Works,  vol. 
x.  p.  63,  in  Sparks's  excellent  edition.)  Interesting  notices  of  the 
history  and  habits  of  the  wild  turkey  may  be  found  in  the  Ornithology 
both  of  Buonaparte  and  of  that  enthusiastic  lover  of  nature,  Audubon, 
vox  Mcleagris,  Gallopavo. 

45  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  cap.  37  ;  lib.  8,  cap.  13  ; 
lib.  9,  cap.  10-14. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  23.— 
Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  ii.  fol.  306. — Father  Sa 
hagun  has  gone  into  many  particulars  of  the  Aztec  cuisine,  and  the 
mode  of  preparing  sundry  savory  messes,- making,  all  together,  no 
despicable  contribution  to  the  noble  science  of  gastronomy. 
Vol..  I.  14 


158  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION'. 

They  had  a  way  of  preparing  the  froth  of  it,  so  as  to 
make  it  almost  solid  enough  to  be  eaten,  and  took 
it  cold.46  The  fermented  juice  of  the  maguey,  with 
a  mixture  of  sweets  and  acids,  supplied,  also,  various 
agreeable  drinks,  of  different  degrees  of  strength,  and 
formed  the  chief  beverage  of  the  elder  part  of  the 
company.47 

As  soon  as  they  had  finished  their  repast,  the  young 
people  rose  from  the  table,  to  close  the  festivities  of 
the  day  with  dancing.  They  danced  gracefully,  to 
the  sound  of  various  instruments,  accompanying  their 
movements  with  chants  of  a  pleasing  though  somewhat 
plaintive  character.48  The  older  guests  continued  at 

46  The  froth,  delicately  flavored  with  spices  and  some  other  ingre 
dients,  was  taken  cold  by  itself.     It  had  the  consistency  almost  of  a 
solid ;  and  the  "  Anonymous  Conqueror"  is  very  careful  to  inculcate 
the  importance  of  "  opening  the  mouth  wide,  in  order  to  facilitate 
deglutition,  that  the  foam  may  dissolve  gradually,  and  descend  imper 
ceptibly,  as  it  were,  into  the  stomach."     It  was  so  nutritious  that  a 
single  cup  of  it  was  enough  to  sustain  a  man  through  the  longest  day's 
march.    (Fol.  306.)    The  old  soldier  discusses  the  beverage  con  amore. 

47  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Xueva-Espana,  lib.  4,  cap.  37;  lib.  8,  cap.  13. 
— Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap.  23. — Rel.  d'un  gentil' 
huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  306. 

•*8  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  7,  cap.  8. — Torquemada,  Mo 
narch.  Ind., lib.  14,  cap.  n. — The  Mexican  nobles  entertained  minstrels 
in  their  houses,  who  composed  ballads  siiited  to  the  times,  or  the 
achievements  of  their  lord,  which  they  chanted,  to  the  accompaniment 
of  instruments,  at  the  festivals  and  dances.  Indeed,  there  was  more 
or  less  dancing  at  most  of  the  festivals,  and  it  was  performed  in  the 
court-yards  of  the  houses,  or  in  the  open  squares  of  the  city.  (Ibid., 
ubi  supra.)  The  principal  men  had,  also,  buffoons  and  jugglers  in 
their  service,  who  amused  them  and  astonished  the  Spaniards  by  their 
feats  of  dexterity  and  strength  (Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  28;  also  Clavi- 
gero  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  pp.  179-186),  who  has  designed  sev 
eral  representations  of  their  exploits,  truly  surprising.)  It  is  natural 


DOMESTIC  MANNERS.  159 

table,  sipping  pulque,  and  gossiping  about  other  times, 
till  the  virtues  of  the  exhilarating  beverage  put  them 
in  good  humor  with  their  own.  Intoxication  was  not 
rare  in  this  part  of  the  company,  and,  what  is  singular, 
was  excused  in  them,  though  severely  punished  in  the 
younger.  The  entertainment  was  concluded  by  a  lib 
eral  distribution  of  rich  dresses  and  ornaments  among 
the  guests,  when  they  withdrew,  after  midnight,  "  some 
commending  the  feast,  and  others  condemning  the 
bad  taste  or  extravagance  of  their  host ;  in  the  same 
manner,"  says  an  old  Spanish  writer,  "as  with  us."49 
Human  nature  is,  indeed,  much  the  same  all  the  world 
over. 

In  this  remarkable  picture  of  manners,  which  I  have 
copied  faithfully  from  the  records  of  earliest  date  after 
the  Conquest,  we  find  no  resemblance  to  the  other 
races  of  North  American  Indians.  Some  resemblance 
we  may  trace  to  the  general  style  of  Asiatic  pomp  and 
luxury.  But  in  Asia,  woman,  far  from  being  admitted 
to  unreserved  intercourse  with  the  other  sex,  is  too 
often  jealously  immured  within  the  walls  of  the  harem. 
European  civilization,  which  accords  to  this  loveliest 
portion  of  creation  her  proper  rank  in  the  social  scale, 
is  still  more  removed  from  some  of  the  brutish  usages 

that  a  people  of  limited  refinement  should  find  their  enjoyment  in 
material  rather  than  intellectual  pleasures,  and,  consequently,  should 
excel  in  them.  The  Asiatic  nations,  as  the  Hindoos  and  Chinese,  for 
example,  surpass  the  more  polished  Europeans  in  displays  of  agility 
and  legerdemain. 

49  "  Y  de  esta  manera  pasaban  gran  rato  de  la  noche,  y  se  despe- 
dian,  e  iban  a  sus  casas,  unos  alabando  la  fiesta,  y  otros  murmurando 
de  las  demasfas  y  excesos,  cosa  mui  ordinaria  en  los  que  d  seme- 
jantes  actos  se  juntan."  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  13,  cap. 
23. — Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Xueva-Espana,  lib.  9,  cap.  10-14. 


160  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

of  the  Aztecs.  That  such  usages  should  have  existed 
with  the  degree  of  refinement  they  showed  in  other 
things  is  almost  inconceivable.  It  can  only  be  ex 
plained  as  the  result  of  religious  superstition;  super 
stition  which  clouds  the  moral  perception,  and  perverts 
even  the  natural  senses,  till  man,  civilized  man,  is  rec 
onciled  to  the  very  things  which  are  most  revolting  to 
humanity.  Habits  and  opinions  founded  on  religion 
must  not  be  taken  as  conclusive  evidence  of  the  actual 
refinement  of  a  people. 

The  Aztec  character  was  perfectly  original  and 
unique.  It  was  made  up  of  incongruities  apparently 
irreconcilable.  It  blended  into  one  the  marked  pecu 
liarities  of  different  nations,  not  only  of  the  same 
phase  of  civilization,  but  as  far  removed  from  each 
other  as  the  extremes  of  barbarism  and  refinement. 
It  may  find  a  fitting  parallel  in  their  own  wonderful 
climate,  capable  of  producing,  on  a  few  square  leagues 
of  surface,  the  boundless  variety  of  vegetable  forms 
which  belong  to  the  frozen  regions  of  the  North,  the 
temperate  zone  of  Europe,  and  the  burning  skies  of 
Arabia  and  Hindostan. 


One  of  the  works  repeatedly  consulted  and  referred  to  in  this  Intro 
duction  is  Boturini's  Idea  de  una  nueva  Historia  general  de  la  America, 
Septentrional.  The  singular  persecutions  sustained  by  its  author,  even 
more  than  the  merits  of  his  book,  have  associated  his  name  insepa 
rably  with  the  literary  history  of  Mexico.  The  Chevalier  Lorenzo 
Boturini  Benaduci  was  a  Milanese  by  birth,  of  an  ancient  family,  and 
possessed  of  much  learning.  From  Madrid,  where  he  was  residing,  he 
passed  over  to  New  Spain,  in  1735,  on  some  business  of  the  Countess 
of  Santibaiiez,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Montezuma.  While  employed 
on  this,  he  visited  the  celebrated  shrine  of  Our  Lady  of  Guadaloupe, 


BOTURINL  161 

and,  being  a  person  of  devout  and  enthusiastic  temper,  was  filled  with 
the  desire  of  collecting  testimony  to  establish  the  marvellous  fact  of 
her  apparition.  In  the  course  of  his  excursions,  made  with  this  view, 
he  fell  in  with  many  relics  of  Aztec  antiquity,  and  conceived — what 
to  a  Protestant,  at  least,  would  seem  much  more  rational — the  idea 
of  gathering  together  all  the  memorials  he  could  meet  with  of  the 
primitive  civilization  of  the  land. 

In  pursuit  of  this  double  object,  he  penetrated  into  the  remotest 
parts  oi  the  country,  living  much  with  the  natives,  passing  his  nights 
sometimes  in  their  huts,  sometimes  in  caves  and  the  depths  of  the 
lonely  forests.  Frequently  months  would  elapse  without  his  being 
able  to  add  anything  to  his  collection  ;  for  the  Indians  had  suffered 
too  much  not  to  be  very  shy  of  Europeans.  His  long  intercourse 
with  them,  however,  gave  him  ample  opportunity  to  learn  their  lan 
guage  and  popular  traditions,  and,  in  the  end,  to  amass  a  large  stock 
of  materials,  consisting  of  hieroglyphical  charts  on  cotton,  skins,  and 
the  fibre  of  the  maguey  ;  besides  a  considerable  body  of  Indian  man 
uscripts,  written  after  the  Conquest.  To  all  these  must  be  added  the 
precious  documents  for  placing  beyond  controversy  the  miraculous 
apparition  of  the  Virgin.  With  this  treasure  he  returned,  after  a 
pilgrimage  of  eight  years,  to  the  capital. 

His  zeal,  in  the  mean  while,  had  induced  him  to  procure  from  Rome 
a  bull  authorizing  the  coronation  of  the  sacred  image  at  Guadaloupe. 
The  bull,  however,  though  sanctioned  by  the  Audience  of  New  Spain, 
had  never  been  approved  by  the  Council  of  the  Indies.  In  conse 
quence  of  this  informality,  Boturini  was  arrested  in  the  midst  of  his 
proceedings,  his  papers  were  taken  from  him,  and,  as  he  declined  to 
give  an  inventory  of  them,  he  was  thrown  into  prison,  and  confined 
in  the  same  apartment  with  two  criminals !  Not  long  afterward  he 
was  sent  to  Spain.  He  there  presented  a  memorial  to  the  Council  of 
the  Indies,  setting  forth  his  manifold  grievances,  and  soliciting  redress. 
At  the  same  time,  he  drew  up  his  "  Idea,"  above  noticed,  in  which  he 
displayed  the  catalogue  of  his  museum  in  New  Spain,  declaring,  with 
affecting  earnestness,  that  "  he  would  not  exchange  these  treasures  for 
all  the  gold  and  silver,  diamonds  and  pearls,  in  the  New  World." 

After  some  delay,  the  Council  gave  an  award  in  his  favor;  acquit 
ting  him  of  any  intentional  violation  of  the  law,  and  pronouncing  a 
high  encomium  on  his  deserts.  His  papers,  however,  were  not  re 
stored.  But  his  Majesty  was  graciously  pleased  to  appoint  him  Histo 
riographer-General  of  the  Indies,  with  a  salary  of  one  thousand  dollars 

14* 


1 62  BOTURINT. 

per  annum.  The  stipend  was  too  small  to  allow  him  to  return  to 
Mexico.  He  remained  in  Madrid,  and  completed  there  the  first 
volume  of  a  "  General  History  of  North  America,"  in  1749.  Not  long 
after  this  event,  and  before  the  publication  of  the  work,  he  died.  The 
same  injustice  was  continued  to  his  heirs  ;  and,  notwithstanding  re 
peated  applications  in  their  behalf,  they  were  neither  put  in  possession 
of  their  unfortunate  kinsman's  collection,  nor  received  a  remuneration 
for  it.  What  was  worse, — as  far  as  the  public  was  concerned, — the 
collection  itself  was  deposited  in  apartments  of  the  vice-regal  palace 
at  Mexico,  so  damp  that  they  gradually  fell  to  pieces,  and  the  few 
remaining  were  still  further  diminished  by  the  pilfering  of  the  curious. 
When  Baron  Humboldt  visited  Mexico,  not  one-eighth  of  this  ines 
timable  treasure  was  in  existence  ! 

I  have  been  thus  particular  in  the  account  of  the  unfortunate  Botu- 
rini,  as  affording,  on  the  whole,  the  most  remarkable  example  of  the 
serious  obstacles  and  persecutions  which  literary  enterprise,  directed 
in  the  path  of  the  national  antiquities,  has,  from  some  cause  or  other, 
been  exposed  to  in  New  Spain. 

Boturini's  manuscript  volume  was  never  printed,  and  probably 
never  will  be,  if  indeed  it  is  in  existence.  This  will  scarcely  prove  a 
great  detriment  to  science  or  to  his  own  reputation.  He  was  a  man 
of  a  zealous  temper,  strongly  inclined  to  the  marvellous,  with  little 
of  that  acuteness  requisite  for  penetrating  the  tangled  mazes  of  an 
tiquity,  or  of  the  philosophic  spirit  fitted  for  calmly  weighing  its  doubts 
and  difficulties.  His  "  Idea"  affords  a  sample  of  his  peculiar  mind. 
With  abundant  learning,  ill  assorted  and  ill  digested,  it  is  a  jumble  of 
fact  and  puerile  fiction,  interesting  details,  crazy  dreams,  and  fantastic 
theories.  But  it  is  hardly  fair  to  judge  by  the  strict  rules  of  criticism 
a  work  which,  put  together  hastily,  as  a  catalogue  of  literary  treasures, 
was  designed  by  the  author  rather  to  show  what  might  be  done,  than 
that  he  could  do  it  himself.  It  is  rare  that  talents  for  action  and  con 
templation  are  united  in  the  same  individual.  Boturini  was  emi 
nently  qualified,  by  his  enthusiasm  and  perseverance,  for  collecting 
the  materials  necessary  to  illustrate  the  antiquities  of  the  country.  It 
requires  a  more  highly  gifted  mind  to  avail  itself  of  them. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  TEZCUCANS. THEIR    GOLDEN  AGE. ACCOMPLISHED 

PRINCES. DECLINE    OF    THEIR    MONARCHY. 

THE  reader  would  gather  but  an  imperfect  notion  of 
the  civilization  of  Anahuac,  without  some  account  of 
the  Acolhuans,  or  Tezcucans,  as  they  are  usually  called ; 
a  nation  of  the  same  great  family  with  the  Aztecs, 
whom  they  rivalled  in  power  and  surpassed  in  intel 
lectual  culture  and  the  arts  of  social  refinement. 
Fortunately,  we  have  ample  materials  for  this  in  the 
records  left  by  Ixtlilxochitl,  a  lineal  descendant  of  the 
royal  line  of  Tezcuco,  who  flourished  in  the  century 
of  the  Conquest.  With  every  opportunity  for  infor 
mation  he  combined  much  industry  and  talent,  and, 
if  his  narrative  bears  the  high  coloring  of  one  who 
wrould  revive  the  faded  glories  of  an  ancient  but  dilapi 
dated  house,  he  has  been  uniformly  commended  for 
his  fairness  and  integrity,  and  has  been  followed  with 
out  misgiving  by  such  Spanish  writers  as  could  have 
access  to  his  manuscripts.1  I  shall  confine  myself  to 
the  prominent  features  of  the  two  reigns  which  may  be 
said  to  embrace  the  golden  age  of  Tezcuco,  without 
attempting  to  weigh  the  probability  of  the  details, 
which  I  will  leave  to  be  settled  by  the  reader,  accord 
ing  to  the  measure  of  his  faith. 

1  For  a  criticism  on  this  writer,  see  the  Postscript  to  this  chapter. 


1 64  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

The  Acolhuans  came  into  the  Valley,  as  we  have 
seen,  about  the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  and  built 
their  capital  of  Tezcuco  on  the  eastern  borders  of  the 
lake,  opposite  to  Mexico.  From  this  point  they 
gradually  spread  themselves  over  the  northern  portion 
of  Anahuac,  when  their  career  was  checked  by  an  in 
vasion  of  a  kindred  race,  the  Tepanecs,  who,  after  a 
desperate  struggle,  succeeded  in  taking  their  city,  slay 
ing  their  monarch,  and  entirely  subjugating  his  king 
dom.2  This  event  took  place  about  1418;  and  the 
young  prince,  Nezahualcoyotl,  the  heir  to  the  crown, 
then  fifteen  years  old,  saw  his  father  butchered  before 
his  eyes,  while  he  himself  lay  concealed  among  the 
friendly  branches  of  a  tree  which  overshadowed  the 
spot.3  His  subsequent  history  is  as  full  of  romantic 
daring  and  perilous  escapes  as  that  of  the  renowned 
Scanderbeg  or  of  the  "  young  Chevalier."  4 

Not  long  after  his  flight  from  the  field  of  his  father's 
blood,  the  Tezcucan  prince  fell  into  the  hands  of  his 
enemy,  was  borne  off  in  triumph  to  his  city,  and 
was  thrown  into  a  dungeon.  He  effected  his  escape, 
however,  through  the  connivance  of  the  governor  of 
the  fortress,  an  old  servant  of  his  family,  who  took  the 
place  of  the  royal  fugitive,  and  paid  for  his  loyalty 
with  his  life.  He  was  at  length  permitted,  through 

2  See  Chapter  I.  of  this  Introduction,  p.  17. 

3  Ixtlilxochitl,  Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  9.— Idem,  Hist.  Chioh.,  MS., 
cap.  19. 

*  The  adventures  of  the  former  hero  are  told  with  his  usual  spirit  by 
Sismondi  (Republiques  Italiennes,  chap.  79).  It  is  hardly  necessary, 
for  the  latter,  to  refer  the  English  reader  to  Chambers's  "  History  of 
the  Rebellion  of  1745  ;"  a  work  which  proves  how  thin  is  the  partition 
in  human  life  which  divides  romance  from  reality. 


GOLDEN-  AGE    OF    TEZCUCO.  165 

the  intercession  of  the  reigning  family  in  Mexico, 
which  was  allied  to  him,  to  retire  to  that  capital,  and 
subsequently  to  his  own,  where  he  found  a  shelter  in 
his  ancestral  palace.  Here  he  remained  unmolested 
for  eight  years,  pursuing  his  studies  under  an  old  pre 
ceptor,  who  had  had  the  care  of  his  early  youth,  and 
who  instructed  him  in  the  various  duties  befitting  his 
princely  station.3 

At  the  end  of  this  period  the  Tepanec  usurper  died, 
bequeathing  his  empire  to  his  son,  Maxtla,  a  man  of 
fierce  and  suspicious  temper.  Nezahualcoyotl  has 
tened  to  pay  his  obeisance  to  him,  on  his  accession. 
But  the  tyrant  refused  to  receive  the  little  present  of 
flowers  which  he  laid  at  his  feet,  and  turned  his  back 
on  him  in  presence  of  his  chieftains.  One  of  his  at 
tendants,  friendly  to  the  young  prince,  admonished  him 
to  provide  for  his  own  safety,  by  withdrawing,  as 
speedily  as  possible,  from  the  palace,  where  his  life 
was  in  danger.  He  lost  no  time,  consequently,  in 
retreating  from  the  inhospitable  court,  and  returned  to 
Tezcuco.  Maxtla,  however,  was  bent  on  his  destruc 
tion.  He  saw  with  jealous  eye  the  opening  talents  and 
popular  manners  of  his  rival,  and  the  favor  he  was 
daily  winning  from  his  ancient  subjects.6 

He  accordingly  laid  a  plan  for  making  away  with  him 
at  an  evening  entertainment.  It  was  defeated  by  the 
vigilance  of  the  prince's  tutor,  who  contrived  to  mis 
lead  the  assassins  and  to  substitute  another  victim  in 
the  place  of  his  pupil.7  The  baffled  tyrant  now  threw 

5  Ixtlilxochitl,  Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  10. 

6  Idem,   Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  10. — Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  20-24. 

7  Idem,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  25.     The  contrivance  was  effected 


1 66  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

off  all  disguise,  and  sent  a  strong  party  of  soldiers  to 
Tezcuco,  with  orders  to  enter  the  palace,  seize  the 
person  of  Nezahualcoyotl,  and  slay  him  on  the  spot. 
The  prince,  who  became  acquainted  with  the  plot 
through  the  watchfulness  of  his  preceptor,  instead  of 
flying,  as  he  was  counselled,  resolved  to  await  his 
enemies.  They  found  him  playing  at  ball,  when  they 
arrived,  in  the  court  of  his  palace.  He  received  them 
courteously,  and  invited  them  in,  to  take  some  refresh 
ments  after  their  journey.  While  they  were  occupied 
in  this  way,  he  passed  into  an  adjoining  saloon,  which 
excited  no  suspicion,  as  he  was  still  visible  through  the 
open  doors  by  which  the  apartments  communicated 
with  each  other.  A  burning  censer  stood  in  the  pas 
sage,  and,  as  it  was  fed  by  the  attendants,  threw  up 
such  clouds  of  incense  as  obscured  his  movements  from 
the  soldiers.  Under  this  friendly  veil  he  succeeded  in 
making  his  escape  by  a  secret  passage,  which  com 
municated  with  a  large  earthen  pipe  formerly  used  to 
bring  water  to  the  palace.8  Here  he  remained  till 
nightfall,  when,  taking  advantage  of  the  obscurity,  he 
found  his  way  into  the  suburbs,  and  sought  a  shelter  in 
the  cottage  of  one  of  his  father's  vassals. 

The  Tepanec  monarch,  enraged  at  this  repeated  dis- 

by  means  of  an  extraordinary  personal  resemblance  of  the  parties  ;  a 
fruitful  source  of  comic — as  every  reader  of  the  drama  knows — though 
rarely  of  tragic  interest. 

8  It  was  customary,  on  entering  the  presence  of  a  great  lord,  to 
throw  aromatics  into  the  censer.  "  Hecho  en  el  brasero  incienso  y 
copal,  que  era  uso  y  costumbre  donde  estaban  los  Reyes  y  Senores, 
cada  vez  que  los  criados  entraban  con  mucha  reverencia  y  acatarniento 
echaban  sahumerio  en  el  brasero  ;  y  asi  con  este  perfume  se  obscure- 
cia  algo  la  sala."  Ixtlilxochitl,  Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  n. 


GOLDEN  AGE    OF    TEZCUCO.  167 

appointment,  ordered  instant  pursuit.  A  price  was  set 
on  the  head  of  the  royal  fugitive.  Whoever  should 
take  him,  dead  or  alive,  was  promised,  however  hum 
ble  his  degree,  the  hand  of  a  noble  lady,  and  an  ample 
domain  along  with  it.  Troops  of  armed  men  were 
ordered  to  scour  the  country  in  every  direction.  In 
the  course  of  the  search,  the  cottage  in  which  the 
prince  had  taken  refuge  was  entered.  But  he  fortu 
nately  escaped  detection  by  being  hid  under  a  heap  of 
maguey  fibres  used  for  manufacturing  cloth.  As  this 
was  no  longer  a  proper  place  of  concealment,  he  sought 
a  retreat  in  the  mountainous  and  woody  district  lying 
between  the  borders  of  his  own  state  and  Tlascala.9 

Here  he  led  a  wretched,  wandering  life,  exposed  to 
all  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather,  hiding  himself  in 
deep  thickets  and  caverns,  and  stealing  out,  at  night, 
to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  appetite;  while  he  was  kept 
in  constant  alarm -by  the  activity  of  his  pursuers,  always 
hovering  on  his  track.  On  one  occasion  he  sought 
refuge  from  them  among  a  small  party  of  soldiers,  who 
proved  friendly  to  him  and  concealed  him  in  a  large 
drum  around  which  they  were  dancing.  At  another 
time  he  was  just  able  to  turn  the  crest  of  a  hill  as  his 
enemies  were  climbing  it  on  the  other  side,  when  he 
fell  in  with  a  girl  who  was  reaping  chia, — a  Mexican 
plant,  the  seed  of  which  was  much  used  in  the  drinks 
of  the  country.  He  persuaded  her  to  cover  him  up 
with  the  stalks  she  had  been  cutting.  When  his  pur 
suers  came  up,  and  inquired  if  she  had  seen  the  fugi 
tive,  the  girl  coolly  answered  that  she  had,  and  pointed 

9  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  26.— Relaciones,  MS.,  No. 
ii. — Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  47. 


1 68  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

out  a  path  as  the  one  he  had  taken.  Notwithstand 
ing  the  high  rewards  offered,  Nezahualcoyotl  seems 
to  have  incurred  no  danger  from  treachery,  such  was 
the  general  attachment  felt  to  himself  and  his  house. 
"Would  you  not  deliver  up  the  prince,  if  he  came  in 
your  way  ?' '  he  inquired  of  a  young  peasant  who  was 
unacquainted  with  his  person.  ''Not  I,"  replied  the 
other.  "  What,  not  for  a  fair  lady's  hand,  and  a  rich 
dowry  beside?"  rejoined  the  prince.  At  which  the 
other  only  shook  his  head  and  laughed.10  On  more 
than  one  occasion  his  faithful  people  submitted  to 
torture,  and  even  to  lose  their  lives,  rather  than  dis 
close  the  place  of  his  retreat." 

However  gratifying  such  proofs  of  loyalty  might  be 
to  his  feelings,  the  situation  of  the  prince  in  these 
mountain  solitudes  became  every  day  more  distressing. 
It  gave  a  still  keener  edge  to  his  own  sufferings  to 
witness  those  of  the  faithful  followers  who  chose  to 
accompany  him  in  his  wanderings.  "Leave  me,"  he 
would  say  to  them,  "to  my  fate!  Why  should  you 
throw  away  your  own  lives  for  one  whom  fortune  is 
never  weary  of  persecuting  ?' '  Most  of  the  great  Tez- 
cucan  chiefs  had  consulted  their  interests  by  a  timely 
adhesion  to  the  usurper.  But  some  still  clung  to  their 
prince,  preferring  proscription,  and  death  itself,  rather 
than  desert  him  in  his  extremity.13 

10  "  Nezahualcoiotzin  le  dixo,  que  si  viese  d.  quien  buscaban,  si  io 
iria  d  denunciar  ?  respondio,  que  no  ;  tornandole  a  replicar  diciendole, 
que  haria  mui  mal  en  perder  una  muger  hermosa  y  lo  demas  que  el 
rey  Maxtla  prometia,  el  mancebo  se  rio  de  todo,  no  haciendo  caso  ni 
de  lo  uno  ni  de  lo  otro."     Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  27. 

11  Ibid.,  MS.,  cap.  26,  27. — Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  u. — Veytia,  Hist, 
antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  47,  48. 

12  Ixtlilxochitl,  MSS.,  ubi  supra.— Veytia,  ubi  supra. 


GOLDEN  AGE    OF    TEZCUCO.  169 

In  the  mean  time,  his  friends  at  a  distance  were 
active  in  measures  for  his  relief.  The  oppressions  of 
Maxtla,  and  his  growing  empire,  had  caused  general 
alarm  in  the  surrounding  states,  who  recalled  the  mild 
rule  of  the  Tezcucan  princes.  A  coalition  was  formed, 
a  plan  of  operations  concerted,  and,  on  the  day  ap 
pointed  for  a  general  rising,  Nezahualcoyotl  found  him 
self  at  the  head  of  a  force  sufficiently  strong  to  face 
his  Tepanec  adversaries.  An  engagement  came  on, 
in  which  the  latter  were  totally  discomfited ;  and  the 
victorious  prince,  receiving  everywhere  on  his  route 
the  homage  of  his  joyful  subjects,  entered  his  capital, 
not  like  a  proscribed  outcast,  but  as  the  rightful  heir, 
and  saw  himself  once  more  enthroned  in  the  halls  of 
his  fathers. 

Soon  after,  he  united  his  forces  with  the  Mexicans, 
long  disgusted  with  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  Maxtla. 
The  allied  powers,  -after  a  series  of  bloody  engagements 
with  the  usurper,  routed  him  under  the  walls  of  his 
own  capital.  He  fled  to  the  baths,  whence  he  was 
dragged  out,  and  sacrificed  with  the  usual  cruel  cere 
monies  of  the  Aztecs;  the  royal  city  of  Azcapozalco 
was  razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  wasted  territory  was 
henceforth  reserved  as  the  great  slave-market  for  the 
nations  of  Anahuac.13 

These  events  were  succeeded  by  the  remarkable 
league  among  the  three  powers  of  Tezcuco,  Mexico, 
and  Tlacopan,  of  which  some  account  has  been  given 
in  a  previous  chapter.14  Historians  are  not  agreed  as 

'3  Ixtlilxochitl,   Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  28-31. —  Relaciones,  MS., 
No,  ii. — Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  2,  cap.  51-54. 
»4  See  page  21  of  this  volume. 
VOL.  I. — H  15 


170  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

to  the  precise  terms  of  it ;  the  writers  of  the  two 
former  nations  each  insisting  on  the  paramount  author 
ity  of  his  own  in  the  coalition.  All  agree  in  the  sub 
ordinate  position  of  Tlacopan,  a  state,  like  the  others, 
bordering  on  the  lake.  It  is  certain  that  in  their  sub 
sequent  operations,  whether  of  peace  or  war,  the  three 
states  shared  in  each  other's  councils,  embarked  in 
each  other's  enterprises,  and  moved  in  perfect  concert 
together,  till  just  before  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards. 

The  first  measure  of  Nezahualcoyotl,  on  returning 
to  his  dominions,  was  a  general  amnesty.  It  was  his 
maxim  "that  a  monarch  might  punish,  but  revenge 
was  unworthy  of  him."15  In  the  present  instance  he 
was  averse  even  to  punish,  and  not  only  freely  pardoned 
his  rebel  nobles,  but  conferred  on  some,  who  had  most 
deeply  offended,  posts  of  honor  and  confidence.  Such 
conduct  was  doubtless  politic,  especially  as  their  alien 
ation  was  owing,  probably,  much  more  to  fear  of  the 
usurper  than  to  any  disaffection  towards  himself.  But 
there  are  some  acts  of  policy  which  a  magnanimous 
spirit  only  can  execute. 

The  restored  monarch  next  set  about  repairing  the 
damages  sustained  under  the  late  misrule,  and  reviving, 
or  rather  remodelling,  the  various  departments  of  gov 
ernment.  He  framed  a  concise,  but  comprehensive, 
code  of  laws,  so  well  suited,  it  was  thought,  to  the 
exigencies  of  the  times,  that  it  was  adopted  as  their 
own  by  the  two  other  members  of  the  triple  alliance. 
It  was  written  in  blood,  and  entitled  the  author  to  be 
called  the  Draco  rather  than  "  the  Solon  of  Anahuac," 

X5  "  Que  venganza  no  es  justo  la  procuren  los  Reyes,  sino  castigar 
al  que  lo  mereciere."  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl. 


GOLDEN   AGE    OF    TEZCUCO. 


171 


as  he  is  fondly  styled  by  his  admirers.16  Humanity  is 
one  of  the  best  fruits  of  refinement.  It  is  only  with 
increasing  civilization  that  the  legislator  studies  to 
economize  human  suffering,  even  for  the  guilty;  to 
devise  penalties  not  so  much  by  way  of  punishment  for 
the  past  as  of  reformation  for  the  future.17 

He  divided  the  burden  of  government  among  a 
number  of  departments,  as  the  council  of  war,  the 
council  of  finance,  the  council  of  justice.  This  last 
was  a  court  of  supreme  authority,  both  in  civil  and 
criminal  matters,  receiving  appeals  from  the  lower  tri 
bunals  of  the  provinces,  which  were  obliged  to  make  a 
full  report,  every  four  months,  or  eighty  days,  of  their 
own  proceedings  to  this  higher  judicature.  In  all 
these  bodies,  a  certain  number  of  citizens  were  allowed 
to  have  seats  with  the  nobles  and  professional  digni 
taries.  There  was,  however,  another  body,  a  council 
of  state,  for  aiding  the  king  in  the  despatch  of  business, 
and  advising  him  in  matters  of  importance,  which  was 
drawn  altogether  from  the  highest  order  of  chiefs.  It 
consisted  of  fourteen  members ;  and  they  had  seats 
provided  for  them  at  the  royal  table.18 

16  See  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  247. — Nezahualcoyotl's 
code  consisted  of  eighty  laws,  of  which  thirty-four  only  have  come 
down  to  us,  according  to  Veytia.  (Hist,  antig.,  torn.  iii.  p.  224,  nota.) 
Ixtlilxochitl  enumerates  several  of  them.  Hist.  Chich.,  MS., cap.  38, 
and  Relaciones,  MS.,  Ordenanzas. 

J7  Nowhere  are  these  principles  kept  more  steadily  in  view  than  in 
the  various  writings  of  our  adopted  countryman  Dr.  Lieber,  having 
more  or  less  to  do  with  the  theory  of  legislation.  Such  works  could 
not  have  been  produced  before  the  nineteenth  century. 

*8  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36.— Veytia,  Hisi.  antig.,  lib. 
3,  cap.  7. — According  to  Zurita,  the  principal  judges,  at  their  general 
meetings  every  four  months,  constituted  also  a  sort  of  parliament  or 


172  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION". 

Lastly,  there  was  an  extraordinary  tribunal,  called 
the  council  of  music,  but  which,  differing  from  the 
import  of  its  name,  was  devoted  to  the  encouragement 
of  science  and  art.  Works  on  astronomy,  chronology, 
history,  or  any  other  science,  were  required  to  be  sub 
mitted  to  its  judgment,  before  they  could  be  made 
public.  This  censorial  power  was  of  some  moment, 
at  least  with  regard  to  the  historical  department,  where 
the  wilful  perversion  of  truth  was  made  a  capital  offence 
by  the  bloody  code  of  Nezahualcoyotl.  Yet  a  Tezcu- 
can  author  must  have  been  a  bungler,  who  could  not 
elude  a  conviction  under  the  cloudy  veil  of  hiero 
glyphics.  This  body,  which  was  drawn  from  the  best- 
instructed  persons  in  the  kingdom,  with  little  regard 
to  rank,  had  supervision  of  all  the  productions  of  art, 
and  of  the  nicer  fabrics.  It  decided  on  the  qualifi 
cations  of  the  professors  in  the  various  branches  of 
science,  on  the  fidelity  of  their  instructions  to  their 
pupils,  the  deficiency  of  which  was  severely  punished, 
and  it  instituted  examinations  of  these  latter.  In  short, 
it  was  a  general  board  of  education  for  the  country. 
On  stated  days,  historical  compositions,  and  poems 
treating  of  moral  or  traditional  topics,  were  recited 
before  it  by  their  authors.  Seats  were  provided  for  the 
three  crowned  heads  of  the  empire,  who  deliberated 
with  the  other  members  on  the  respective  merits  of  the 
pieces,  and  distributed  prizes  of  value  to  the  successful 
competitors.19 

cortes,  for  advising  the  king  on  matters  of  state.     See  his  Rapport, 
p.  106  ;  also  ante,  p.  33. 

19  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del 
Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  137. — Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  3,  cap.  7. — "  Con- 
currian  £  este  consejo  las  tres  cabezas  del  imperio,  en  ciertos  dias,  £ 


GOLDEN  AGE    OF    TEZCUCO.  173 

Such  are  the  marvellous  accounts  transmitted  to  us 
of  this  institution  ;  an  institution  certainly  not  to  have 
been  expected  among  the  aborigines  of  America.  It 
is  calculated  to  give  us  a  higher  idea  of  the  refinement 
of  the  people  than  even  the  noble  architectural  remains 
which  still  cover  some  parts  of  the  continent.  Archi 
tecture  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  a  sensual  gratification. 
It  addresses  itself  to  the  eye,  and  affords  the  best  scope 
for  the  parade  of  barbaric  pomp  and  splendor.  It  is 
the  form  in  which  the  revenues  of  a  semi-civilized 
people  are  most  likely  to  be  lavished.  The  most  gaudy 
and  ostentatious  specimens  of  it,  and  sometimes  the 
most  stupendous,  have  been  reared  by  such  hands.  It 
is  one  of  the  first  steps  in  the  great  march  of  civiliza 
tion.  But  the  institution  in  question  was  evidence  of 
still  higher  refinement.  It  was  a  literary  luxury,  and 
argued  the  existence  of  a  taste  in  the  nation  which 
relied  for  its  gratification  on  pleasures  of  a  purely 
intellectual  character. 

The  influence  of  this  academy  must  have  been  most 
propitious  to  the  capital,  which  became  the  nursery 
not  only  of  such  sciences  as  could  be  compassed  by 
the  scholarship  of  the  period,  but  of  various  useful 
and  ornamental  arts.  Its  historians,  orators,  and  poets 

oir  cantar  las  poesias  historicas  antiguas  y  modernas,  para  instruirse 
de  toda  su  historia,  y  tambien  cuando  habia  algun  nuevo  invento  en 
cualquierafacultad,  para  cxaminarlo,  aprobarlo,  6  reprobarlo.  Del- 
ante  de  las  sillas  de  los  reyes  habia  una  gran  mesa  cargada  de  joyas  de 
oro  y  plata,  pedren'a,  plumas,  y  otras  cosas  estimables,  y  en  los  rin- 
concs  de  la  sala  muchas  de  mantas  de  todas  calidades,  parapremios 
de  las  habilidades  y  estimulo  de  los  profesores,  las  cuales  alhajas  re- 
partian  los  reyes,  en  los  dias  que  concurrian,  a  los  qiie  se  aventajaban 
en  el  ejercicio  <^e  sus  faeultades."  Ibid. 


174  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION'. 

were  celebrated  throughout  the  country.20  Its  archives, 
for  which  accommodations  were  provided  in  the  royal 
palace,  were  stored  with  the  records  of  primitive  ages.21 
Its  idiom,  more  polished  than  the  Mexican,  was,  in 
deed,  the  purest  of  all  the  Nahuatlac  dialects,  and  con 
tinued,  long  after  the  Conquest,  to  be  that  in  which 
the  best  productions  of  the  native  races  were  composed. 
Tezcuco  claimed  the  glory  of  being  the  Athens  of  the 
Western  world.22 

Among  the  most  illustrious  of  her  bards  was  the 
emperor  himself, — for  the  Tezcucan  writers  claim  this 
title  for  their  chief,  as  head  of  the  imperial  alliance. 
He  doubtless  appeared  as  a  competitor  before  that  very- 
academy  where  he  so  often  sat  as  a  critic.  Many  of 
his  odes  descended  to  a  late  generation,  and  are  still 
preserved,  perhaps,  in  some  of  the  dusty  repositories 
of  Mexico  or  Spain.23  The  historian  Ixtlilxochitl  has 

20  Veytia,  Hist,  antig.,  lib.  3,  cap.  7. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico, 
torn.  i.  p.  247. — The  latter  author  enumerates  four  historians,  some  of 
much  repute,  of  the  royal  house  of  Tezcuco,  descendants  of  the  great 
Nezahualcoyotl.     See  his  Account  of  Writers,  torn.  i.  pp.  6-21. 

21  "En  la  ciudad  de  Tezcuco  estaban  los  Archives  Reales  de  todas 
las  cosas  referidas,  por  haver  sido  la  Metropoli  de  todas  las  ciencias, 
usos,  y  buenas  costumbres,  porque  los  Reyes  que  fueron  de  ella  se 
preciaron  de  esto."     (Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  Prologo.)     It 
was  from  the  poor  wreck  of  these  documents,  once  so  carefully  pre 
served  by  his  ancestors,  that  the  historian  gleaned  the  materials,  as  he 
informs  us,  for  his  own  works. 

22  "  Aunque  es  tenida  la  lengua  Mejicana  por  materna,  y  laTezcu- 
cana  por  mas  cortesana  y  pulida."     (Camargo,  Hist,   de  Tlascala, 
MS.)     "Tezcuco,"  says  Boturini,  "where  the  noblemen  sent  their 
sons  to  acquire  the  most  polished  dialect  of  the  Nahuatlac  language, 
and  to  study  poetry,  moral  philosophy,  the  heathen  theology,  astron 
omy,  medicine,  and  history."     Idea,  p.  142. 

•s  "  He  composed  sixty  songs,"  says  the  author  last  quoted,  "  which 


GOLDEN  AGE    OF    TEZCUCO.  175 

left  a  translation,  in  Castilian,  of  one  of  the  poems  of 
his  royal  ancestor.  It  is  not  easy  to  render  his  version 
into  corresponding  English  rhyme,  without  the  per 
fume  of  the  original  escaping  in  this  double  filtration.^ 
They  remind  one  of  the  rich  breathings  of  Spanish- 
Arab  poetry,  in  which  an  ardent  imagination  is  tem 
pered  by  a  not  unpleasing  and  moral  melancholy.25 
But,  though  sufficiently  florid  in  diction,  they  are 
generally  free  from  the  meretricious  ornaments  and 
hyperbole  with  which  the  minstrelsy  of  the  East  is 
usually  tainted.  They  turn  on  the  vanities  and  mu 
tability  of  human  life, — a  topic  very  natural  for  a 
monarch  who  had  himself  experienced  the  strangest 
mutations  of  fortune.  There  is  mingled  in  the  lament 
of  the  Tezcucan  bard,  however,  an  Epicurean  philos 
ophy,  which  seeks  relief  from  the  fears  of  the  future 
in  the  joys  of  the  present.  "Banish  care,"  he  says: 
"if  there  are  bounds  to  pleasure,  the  saddest  life  must 
also  have  an  end.  Then  weave  the  chaplet  of  flowers, 
and  sing  thy  songs  in  praise  of  the  all-powerful  God ; 
for  the  glory  of  this  world  soon  fadeth  away.  Rejoice 
in  the  green  freshness  of  thy  spring ;  for  the  day  will 

have  probably  perished  by  the  incendiary  hands  of  the  ignorant." 
(Idea,  p.  79.)  Boturini  had  translations  of  two  of  these  in  his  museum 
(Catalogo,  p.  8),  and  another  lias  since  come  to  light. 

24  Difficult  as  the  task  may  be,  it  has  been  executed  by  the  hand  of 
a  fair  friend,  who,  while  she  has  adhered  to  the  Castilian  with  singular 
fidelity,  has  shown  a  grace  and  flexibility  in  her  poetical  movements 
which  the  Castilian  version,  and  probably  the  Mexican  original,  cannot 
boast.     See  both  translations  in  Appendix,  Part  2,  No.  2. 

25  Numerous  specimens  of  this  may  be  found  in  Conde's  "  Domi- 
riacion  de  los  Arabes  en  Espana."     None  of  them  are  superior  to  the 
plaintive  strains  of  the  royal  Abderahman  on  the  solitary  palm-tree 
which  reminded  him  of  the  pleasant  land  of  his  birth.     See  Parte  2, 
cap.  9. 


176  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

come  when  thou  shalt  sigh  for  these  joys  in  vain ; 
when  the  sceptre  shall  pass  from  thy  hands,  thy  ser 
vants  shall  wander  desolate  in  thy  courts,  thy  sons, 
and  the  sons  of  thy  nobles,  shall  drink  the  dregs  of 
distress,  and  all  the  pomp  of  thy  victories  and  triumphs 
shall  live  only  in  their  recollection.  Yet  the  remem 
brance  of  the  just  shall  not  pass  away  from  the  nations, 
and  the  good  thou  hast  done  shall  ever  be  held  in 
honor.  The  goods  of  this  life,  its  glories  and  its 
riches,  are  but  lent  to  us,  its  substance  is  but  an  illu 
sory  shadow,  and  the  things  of  to-day  shall  change  on 
the  coming  of  the  morrow.  Then  gather  the  fairest 
flowers  from  thy  gardens,  to  bind  round  thy  brow,  and 
seize  the  joys  of  the  present  ere  they  perish."  ^ 

2^  "  Io  tocare  cantando 

El  musico  instruments  sonoroso, 

Tu  de  flores  gozando 

Danza,  y  festeja  a  Dios  que  es  poderoso  ; 

O  gozemos  de  esta  gloria, 

Porque  la  humana  vida  es  transitoria." 

MS.   DE  IXTLILXOCHITL. 

The  sentiment,  which  is  common  enough,  is  expressed  with  un 
common  beauty  by  the  English  poet  Herrick : 

"  Gather  the  rosebuds  while  you  may ; 

Old  Time  is  still  a-flying  ; 
The  fairest  flower  that  blooms  to-day 
To-morrow  may  be  dying." 

And  with  still  greater  beauty,  perhaps,  by  Racine : 
"  Rions,  chantons,  dit  cette  troupe  impie, 
De  fleurs  en  fleurs,  de  plaisirs  en  plaisirs. 

Promenons  nos  desirs. 
Sur  1'avenir  insense  qui  se  fie. 
De  nos  ans  passagers  le  nombre  est  incertain. 
Hatons-nous  aujourd'hui  de  jouir  de  la  vie  ; 
Qui  sail  si  nous  serons  demain  ?" 

ATHALIB,  Acte  2. 

It  is  interesting  to  see  under  what  different  forms  the  same  senti- 


GOLDEN  AGE    OF    TEZCUCO. 


177 


But  the  hours  of  the  Tezcucan  monarch  were  not  all 
passed  in  idle  dalliance  with  the  Muse,  nor  in  the  sober 
contemplations  of  philosophy,  as  at  a  later  period.  In 
the  freshness  of  youth  and  early  manhood  he  led  the 
allied  armies  in  their  annual  expeditions,  which  were 
certain  to  result  in  a  wider  extent  of  territory  to  the 
empire.27  In  the  intervals  of  peace  he  fostered  those 
productive  arts  which  are  the  surest  sources  of  public 
prosperity.  He  encouraged  agriculture  above  all ;  and 
there  was  scarcely  a  spot  so  rude,  or  a  steep  so  in 
accessible,  as  not  to  confess  the  power  of  cultivation. 
The  land  was  covered  with  a  busy  population,  and 
towns  and  cities  sprang  up  in  places  since  deserted  or 
dwindled  into  miserable  villages.28 

From  resources  thus  enlarged  by  conquest  and  do- 

ment  is  developed  by  different  races  and  in  different  languages.  It 
is  an  Epicurean  sentiment,  indeed,  but  its  universality  proves  its 
truth  to  nature. 

27  Some  of  the  provinces  and  places  thus  conquered  were  held  by 
the  allied  powers  in   common  ;    Tlacopan,  however,  only  receiving 
one-fifth  of  the  tribute.     It  was  more  usual  to  annex  the  vanquished 
territory  to  that  one  of  the  two  great  states  to  which  it  lay  nearest. 
See  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  38. — Zurita,  Rapport,  p.  n. 

28  Ixtlilxochitl,   Hist.  Chich.,   MS.,  cap.  41.     The  same  writer,  in 
another  work,  calls  the  population  of  Tezcuco,  at  this  period,  double 
of  what  it  was  at  the  Conquest ;  founding  his  estimate  on  the  royal 
registers,  and  on  the  numerous  remains  of  edifices  still  visible  in  his 
day,  in  places  now  depopulated.     "  Parece  en  las  historias  que  en 
este  tiempo,  antes  que  se  destruyesen,  havia  doblado  mas  gente  de  la 
que  hallo  al  tiempo  que  vino  Cortes,  y  los  demas  Espanoles  :  porque 
yo  hallo  en  los  padroncs  reales,  que  el  menor  pueblo  tenia  noo  veci- 
nos,  y  de  alii  para  arriba,  y  ahora  no  tienen  200  vecinos,  y  aim  en 
algunas  partes  de  todo  punto  se  han  acabado.  .  .  .  Como  se  hecha 
de  ver  en  las  ruinas,  hasta  los  mas  altos  montes  y  sierras  tenian  sus 
sementeras,  y  casas  principales   para  vivir  y  morar."     Relaciones, 
MS.,  No.  9. 

H* 


1 78  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

mestic  industry,  the  monarch  drew  the  means  for  the 
large  consumption  of  his  own  numerous  household,29 
and  for  the  costly  works  which  he  executed  for  the 
convenience  and  embellishment  of  the  capital.  He 
filled  it  with  stately  edifices  for  his  nobles,  whose  con 
stant  attendance  he  was  anxious  to  secure  at  his  court.30 
He  erected  a  magnificent  pile  of  buildings  which  might 
serve  both  for  a  royal  residence  and  for  the  public 
offices.  It  extended,  from  east  to  west,  twelve  hun 
dred  and  thirty-four  yards,  and  from  north  to  south, 
nine  hundred  and  seventy-eight.  It  was  encompassed 
by  a  wall  of  unburnt  bricks  and  cement,  six  feet  wide 
and  nine  high  for  one  half  of  the  circumference,  and 
fifteen  feet  high  for  the  other  half.  Within  this  en 
closure  were  two  courts.  The  outer  one  was  used  as 
the  great  market-place  of  the  city,  and  continued  to 
be  so  until  long  after  the  Conquest, — if,  indeed,  it  is 
not  now.  The  interior  court  was  surrounded  by  the 
council-chambers  and  halls  of  justice.  There  were  also 
accommodations  there  for  the  foreign  ambassadors ; 
and  a  spacious  saloon,  with  apartments  opening  into 

29  Torquemada  has  extracted  the  particulars  of  the  yearly  expendi 
ture  of  the  palace  from  the  royal  account-book,  which  came  into  the 
historian's  possession.  The  following  are  some  of  the  items,  namely  : 
4,900,300  fanegas  of  maize  (\hefanega  is  equal  to  about  one  hundred 
pounds) ;  2,744,000  fanegas  of  cacao  ;  8000  turkeys  ;  1300  baskets  of 
salt ;  besides  an  incredible  quantity  of  game  of  every  kind,  vegetables, 
condiments,  etc.  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  53.)  See,  also,  Ixtlilxo- 
chitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  35. 

3°  There  were  more  than  four  hundred  of  these  lordly  residences : 
"  Asi  mismo  hizo  edificar  muchas  casas  y  palacios  para  los  senores 
y  cavalleros,  que  asistian  en  su  corte,  cada  uno  conforme  &  la  calidad 
y  meritos  de  su  persona,  las  quales  llegaron  a  ser  mas  de  quatrocientas 
casas  de  senores  y  cavalleros  de  solar  conocido."  Ibid.,  cap.  38. 


GOLDEN  AGE    OF    TEZCUCO. 


179 


it,  for  men  of  science  and  poets,  who  pursued  their 
studies  in  this  retreat  or  met  together  to  hold  converse 
under  its  marble  porticoes.  In  this  quarter,  also,  were 
kept  the  public  archives,  which  fared  better  under 
the  Indian  dynasty  than  they  have  since  under  their 
European  successors.31 

Adjoining  this  court  were  the  apartments  of  the 
king,  including  those  for  the  royal  harem,  as  liberally 
supplied  with  beauties  as  that  of  an  Eastern  sultan. 
Their  walls  were  incrusted  with  alabasters  and  richly- 
tinted  stucco,  or  hung  with  gorgeous  tapestries  of  varie 
gated  feather- work.  They  led  through  long  arcades, 
and  through  intricate  labyrinths  of  shrubbery,  into 
gardens  where  baths  and  sparkling  fountains  were  over 
shadowed  by  tall  groves  of  cedar  and  cypress.  The 
basins  of  water  were  well  stocked  with  fish  of  various 
kinds,  and  the  aviaries  with  birds  glowing  in  all  the 
gaudy  plumage  of'  the  tropics.  Many  birds  and  ani 
mals  which  could  not  be  obtained  alive  were  repre 
sented  in  gold  and  silver  so  skilfully  as  to  have  fur 
nished  the  great  naturalist  Hernandez  with  models  for 
his  work.32 

31  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36.  "  Esta  plaza  cercada  de 
portales,  y  tenia  asi  mismo  por  la  parte  del  poniente  otra  sala  grande, 
y  muchos  quartos  i.  la  redonda,  que  era  la  universidad,  en  donde 
asistian  todos  los  poetas,  historicos,  y  philosophies  del  reyno,  divididos 
en  sus  claves,  y  academias,  conforme  era  la  facultad  de  cada  uno,  y 
asi  mismo  estaban  aqui  los  archives  reales." 

3=  This  celebrated  naturalist  was  sent  by  Philip  II.  to  New  Spain, 
and  he  employed  several  years  in  compiling  a  voluminous  work 
on  its  various  natural  productions,  with  drawings  illustrating  them. 
Although  the  government  is  said  to  have  expended  sixty  thousand 
ducats  in  effecting  this  great  object,  the  volumes  were  not  published 
till  long  after  the  author's  death.  In  1651  a  mutilated  edition  of  the 


I  So  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

Accommodations  on  a  princely  scale  were  provided 
for  the  sovereigns  of  Mexico  and  Tlacopan  when  they 
visited  the  court.  The  whole  of  this  lordly  pile  con 
tained  three  hundred  apartments,  some  of  them  fifty 
yards  square.33  The  height  of  the  building  is  not 
mentioned.  It  was  probably  not  great,  but  supplied 
the  requisite  room  by  the  immense  extent  of  ground 
which  it  covered.  The  interior  was  doubtless  con 
structed  of  light  materials,  especially  of  the  rich  woods 
which,  in  that  country,  are  remarkable,  when  polished, 
for  the  brilliancy  and  variety  of  their  colors.  That 
the  more  solid  materials  of  stone  and  stucco  were  also 
liberally  employed  is  proved  by  the  remains  at  the 
present  day ;  remains  which  have  furnished  an  inex 
haustible  quarry  for  the  churches  and  other  edifices 
since  erected  by  the  Spaniards  on  the  site  of  the  an 
cient  city.34 

part  of  the  work  relating  to  medical  botany  appeared  at  Rome. — The 
original  MSS.  were  supposed  to  have  been  destroyed  by  the  great  fire 
in  the  Escorial,  not  many  years  after.  Fortunately,  another  copy,  in 
the  author's  own  hand,  was  detected  by  the  indefatigable  Munoz,  in 
the  library  of  the  Jesuits'  College  at  Madrid,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
last  century  ;  and  a  beautiful  edition,  from  the  famous  press  of  Ibarra, 
was  published  in  that  capital,  under  the  patronage  of  government,  in 
1790.  (Hist.  Plantarum,  Praefatio. — Xic.  Antonio,  Bibliotheca  His- 
pana  Nova  (Matriti,  1790),  torn.  iii.  p.  432.)  The  work  of  Hernandez 
is  a  monument  of  industry  and  erudition,  the  more  remarkable  as 
being  the  first  on  this  difficult  subject.  And,  after  all  the  additional 
light  from  the  labors  of  later  naturalists,  it  still  holds  its  place  as  a 
book  of  the  highest  authority,  for  the  perspicuity,  fidelity,  and  thor 
oughness  with  which  the  multifarious  topics  in  it  are  discussed. 

33  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  36. 

34  "  Some  of  the  terraces  on  which  it  stood,"  says  Mr.   Bullock, 
speaking  of  this  palace,  "  are  still  entire,  and  covered  with  cement, 
very  hard,  and  equal  in  beauty  to  that  found  in  ancient  Roman  build- 


GOLDEN  AGE    OF    TEZCUCO.  181 

We  are  not  informed  of  the  time  occupied  in  build 
ing  this  palace.  But  two  hundred  thousand  workmen, 
it  is  said,  were  employed  on  it.33  However  this  may 
be,  it  is  certain  that  the  Tezcucan  monarchs,  like  those 
of  Asia  and  ancient  Egypt,  had  the  control  of  im 
mense  masses  of  men,  and  would  sometimes  turn  the 
whole  population  of  a  conquered  city,  including  the 
women,  into  the  public  works.36  The  most  gigantic 
monuments  of  architecture  which  the  world  has  wit 
nessed  would  never  have  been  reared  by  the  hands 
of  freemen. 

Adjoining  the  palace  were  buildings  for  the  king's 
children,  who,  by  his  various  wives,  amounted  to  no  less 
than  sixty  sons  and  fifty  daughters.37  Here  they  were 
instructed  in  all  the  exercises  and  accomplishments 
suited  to  their  station ;  comprehending,  what  would 
scarcely  find  a  place  in  a  royal  education  on  the  other 

ings.  .  .  .  The  great  church,  which  stands  close  by,  is  almost  entirely 
built  of  the  materials  taken  from  the  palace,  many  of  the  sculptured 
stones  from  which  may  be  seen  in  the  walls,  though  most  of  the  orna 
ments  are  turned  inwards.  Indeed,  our  guide  informed  us  that  who 
ever  built  a  house  at  Tezcuco  made  the  ruins  of  the  palace  serve 
as  his  quarry."  (Six  Months  in  Mexico,  chap.  26.)  Torquemada 
notices  the  appropriation  of  the  materials  to  the  same  purpose.  Mo 
narch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  45. 

35  Ixtlilxochitl,  MS.,  ubi  supra. 

36  Thus,  to  punish  the  Chalcas  for  their  rebellion,  the  whole  popu 
lation  were  compelled,  women  as  well  as  men,  says  the  chronicler  so 
often  quoted,  to  labor  on  the  royal  edifices  for  four  years  together; 
end  large  granaries  were  provided  with  stores  for  their  maintenance 
in  the  mean  time.     Idem,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  46. 

37  If  the  people  in  general  were  not  much  addicted  to  polygamy,  the 
sovereign,  it  must  be  confessed, — and  it  was  the  same,  we  shall  see,  in 
Mexico, — made  ample  amends  for  any  self-denial  on  the  part  of  his 
subjects. 

VOL.  I.  !6 


1 82  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

side  of  the  Atlantic,  the  arts  of  working  in  metals,  jew* 
elry,  and  feather-mosaic.  Once  in  every  four  months, 
the  whole  household,  not  excepting  the  youngest,  and 
including  all  the  officers  and  attendants  on  the  king's 
person,  assembled  in  a  grand  saloon  of  the  palace,  to 
listen  to  a  discourse  from  an  orator,  probably  one  of 
the  priesthood.  The  princes,  on  this  occasion,  were 
all  dressed  in  nequen,  the  coarsest  manufacture  of  the 
country.  The  preacher  began  by  enlarging  on  the 
obligations  of  morality  and  of  respect  for  the  gods, 
especially  important  in  persons  whose  rank  gave  such 
additional  weight  to  example.  He  occasionally  sea 
soned  his  homily  with  a  pertinent  application  to  his 
audience,  if  any  member  of  it  had  been  guilty  of  a  no 
torious  delinquency.  From  this  wholesome  admonition 
the  monarch  himself  was  not  exempted,  and  the  orator 
boldly  reminded  him  of  his  paramount  duty  to  show 
respect  for  his  own  laws.  The  king,  so  far  from  taking 
umbrage,  received  the  lesson  with  humility ;  and  the 
audience,  we  are  assured,  were  often  melted  into  tears 
by  the  eloquence  of  the  preacher.38  This  curious  scene 
may  remind  one  of  similar  usages  in  the  Asiatic  and 
Egyptian  despotisms,  where  the  sovereign  occasionally 
condescended  to  stoop  from  his  pride  of  place  and 
allow  his  memory  to  be  refreshed  with  the  conviction 
of  his  own  mortality.39  It  soothed  the  feelings  of  the 

38  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  37. 

39  The  Egyptian  priests  managed  the  affair  in  a  more  courtly  style, 
and,  while  they  prayed  that  all  sorts  of  kingly  virtues  might  descend 
on  the  prince,  they  threw  the  blame  of  actual  delinquencies  on  his 
ministers;  thus,  "not  by  the  bitterness  of  reproof,"  says  Diodorus, 
"  but  by  the  allurements  of  praise,  enticing  him  to  an  honest  way  of 
life."     Lib,  i,  cap.  70. 


GOLDEN'  AGE    OF    TEZCUCO,  183 

subject  to  find  himself  thus  placed,  though  but  for  a 
moment,  on  a  level  with  his  king;  while  it  cost  little 
to  the  latter,  who  was  removed  too  far  from  his  people 
to  suffer  anything  by  this  short-lived  familiarity.  It  is 
probable  that  such  an  act  of  public  humiliation  would 
have  found  less  favor  with  a  prince  less  absolute. 

Nezahualcoyotl's  fondness  for  magnificence  was  shown 
in  his  numerous  villas,  which  were  embellished  with  all 
that  could  make  a  rural  retreat  delightful.  His  favorite 
residence  was  at  Tezcotzinco,  a  conical  hill  about  two 
leagues  from  the  capital.40  It  was  laid  out  in  terraces, 
or  hanging  gardens,  having  a  flight  of  steps  five  hundred 
and  twenty  in  number,  many  of  them  hewn  in  the 
natural  porphyry.41  In  the  garden  on  the  summit  was 
a  reservoir  of  water,  fed  by  an  aqueduct  that  was  carried 
over  hill  and  valley,  for  several  miles,  on  huge  but 
tresses  of  masonry.  A  large  rock  stood  in  the  midst 
of  this  basin,  sculptured  with  the  hieroglyphics  repre 
senting  the  years  of  Nezahualcoyotl's  reign  and  his 
principal  achievements  in  each.42  On  a  lower  level 

4°  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  42. — See  Appendix,  Part  2, 
No.  3,  for  the  original  description  of  this  royal  residence. 

41  "  Quinientos  y  veynte  escalones."    Davilla  Padilla,  Historia  de  la 
Provincia  de  Santiago  (Madrid,  1596),  lib.  2,  cap.  81. — This  writer, 
who  lived  in  the  sixteenth  century,  counted  the  steps  himself.     Those 
which  were  not  cut  in  the  rock  were  crumbling  into  ruins,  as,  indeed, 
every  part  of  the  establishment  was  even  then  far  gone  to  decay. 

42  On  the  summit  of  the  mount,  according  to  Padilla,  stood  an 
image  of  a  coyotl, — an  animal  resembling  a  fox, — which,  according  to 
tradition,  represented   an  Indian   famous  for  his  fasts.     It  was  de 
stroyed  by  that  stanch  iconoclast,  Bishop  Zumarraga,  as  a  relic  of 
idolatry.     (Hist,  de  Santiago,  lib.  2,  cap.  81.)     This  figure  was,  no 
doubt,  the  emblem  of  Nezahualcoyotl  himself,  whose  name,  as  elses 
where  noticed,  signified  "  hungry  fox." 


j84  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION-. 

were  three  other  reservoirs,  in  each  of  which  stood  a 
marble  statue  of  a  woman,  emblematic  of  the  three 
states  of  the  empire.  Another  tank  contained  a  winged 
lion,  (?)  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock,  bearing  in  its  mouth 
the  portrait  of  the  emperor.43  His  likeness  had  been 
executed  in  gold,  wood,  feather-work,  and  stone;  but 
this  was  the  only  one  which  pleased  him. 

From  these  copious  basins  the  water  was  distributed 
in  numerous  channels  through  the  gardens,  or  was 
made  to  tumble  over  the  rocks  in  cascades,  shedding 
refreshing  dews  on  the  flowers  and  odoriferous  shrubs 
below.  In  the  depths  of  this  fragrant  wilderness, 
marble  porticoes  and  pavilions  were  erected,  and  baths 
excavated  in  the  solid  porphyry,  which  are  still  shown 
by  the  ignorant  natives  as  the  "Baths  of  Monte- 
zuma"  I44  The  visitor  descended  by  steps  cut  in  the 
living  stone  and  polished  so  bright  as  to  reflect  like 
mirrors.45  Towards  the  base  of  the  hill,  in  the  midst 
of  cedar  groves,  whose  gigantic  branches  threw  a 

43  "  Hecho  de  una  pena  un  Icon  de  mas  de  dos  brazas  de  largo  con 
sus  alas  y  plumas  :  estaba  hechado  y  mirando  d  la  parte  del  oriente,  en 
cuia  boca  asomaba  un  rostro,  que  era  el  mismo  retrato  del  Rey." 
Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  42. 

44  Bullock  speaks  of  a  beautiful  basin,  twelve  feet  long  by  eight 
wide,  having  a  well  five  feet  by  four  deep  in   the  centre,"  etc.  etc. 
Whether  truth  lies  in  the  bottom  of  this  well  is  not  so  clear.    Latrobe 
describes  the  baths  as  "  two  singular  basins,  perhaps  two  feet  and  a 
half  in  diameter,  not   large  enough  for  any  monarch  bigger  than 
Oberon  to  take  a  duck  in."     (Comp.  Six  Months  in  Mexico,  chap. 
26  ;  and  Rambler  in  Mexico,  Let.  7.)    Ward  speaks  much  to  the  same 
purpose  (Mexico   in    1827  (London,   1828),   vol.   ii.  p.   296),  which 
agrees  with  verbal  accounts  I  have  received  of  the  same  spot. 

45  "  Gradas  hechas  de  la  misma  pena  tan  bien  gravadas  y  lizas  que 
parecian  espejos."     (Ixtlilxochitl,   MS.,  ubi  supra.)     The  travellers 
just  cited  notice  the  beautiful  polish  still  visible  in  the  porphyry. 


GOLDEN  AGE    OF    TEZCUCO.  185 

refreshing  coolness  over  the  verdure  in  the  sultriest 
seasons  of  the  year/6  rose  the  royal  villa,  with  its  light 
arcades  and  airy  halls,  drinking  in  the  sweet  perfumes 
of  the  gardens.  Here  the  monarch  often  retired,  to 
throw  off  the  burden  of  state  and  refresh  his  wearied 
spirits  in  the  society  of  his  favorite  wives,  reposing 
during  the  noontide  heats  in  the  embowering  shades 
of  his  paradise,  or  mingling,  in  the  cool  of  the  even 
ing,  in  their  festive  sports  and  dances.  Here  he  enter 
tained  his  imperial  brothers  of  Mexico  and  Tlacopan, 
and  followed  the  hardier  pleasures  of  the  chase  in  the 
noble  woods  that  stretched  for  miles  around  his  villa, 
flourishing  in  all  their  primeval  majesty.  Here,  too, 
he  often  repaired  in  the  latter  days  of  his  life,  when 
age  had  tempered  ambition  and  cooled  the  ardor  of  his 
blood,  to  pursue  in  solitude  the  studies  of  philosophy 
and  gather  wisdom  from  meditation. 

The  extraordinary  accounts  of  the  Tezcucan  archi 
tecture  are  confirmed,  in  the  main,  by  the  relics  which 
still  cover  the  hill  of  Tezcotzinco  or  are  half  buried 
beneath  its  surface.  They  attract  little  attention,  in 
deed,  in  the  country,  where  their  true  history  has  long 
since  passed  into  oblivion ; 47  while  the  traveller  whose 

46  Padilla  saw  entire  pieces  of  cedar  among  the  ruins,  ninety  feet 
long  and  four  in  diameter.     Some  of  the  massive  portals,  he  observed, 
were   made  of  a  single  stone.     (Hist,  de  Santiago,  lib.  n,  cap.  81.) 
Peter  Martyr  notices  an   enormous  wooden  beam,  used  in  the  con 
struction  of  the  palaces  of  Tezcuco,  which  was  one  hundred  and 
twenty  feet  long  by  eight  feet  in  diameter  !     The  accounts  of  this  and 
similar  huge  pieces  of  timber  were  so  astonishing,  he  adds,  that  he 
could  not  have  received  them  except  on  the  most  unexceptionable 
testimony.     De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap.  10. 

47  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  Mexican  government  should 
not  take  a  deeper  interest  in  the  Indian  antiquities.     What  might  not 

1 6* 


x-86  AZTEC  CIVILIZATION: 

curiosity  leads  him  to  the  spot  speculates  on  their 
probable  origin,  and,  as  he  stumbles  over  the  huge 
fragments  of  sculptured  porphyry  and  granite,  refers 
them  to  the  primitive  races  who  spread  their  colossal 
architecture  over  the  country  long  before  the  coming 
of  the  Acolhuans  and  the  Aztecs.48 

The  Tezcucan  princes  were  used  to  entertain  a  great 
number  of  concubines.  They  had  but  one  lawful  wife, 
to  whose  issue  the  crown  descended.49  Nezahualcoyotl 
remained  unmarried  to  a  late  period.  He  was  disap 
pointed  in  an  early  attachment,  as  the  princess  who 
had  been  educated  in  privacy  to  be  the  partner  of 
his  throne  gave  her  hand  to  another.  The  injured 
monarch  submitted  the  affair  to  the  proper  tribunal. 
The  parties,  however,  were  proved  to  have  been  igno 
rant  of  the  destination  of  the  lady,  and  the  court,  with 
an  independence  which  reflects  equal  honor  on  the 
judges  who  could  give  and  the  monarch  who  could 

be  effected  by  a  few  hands  drawn  from  the  idle  garrisons  of  some  of 
the  neighboring  towns  and  employed  in  excavating  this  ground,  "  the 
Mount  Palatine"  of  Mexico!  But,  unhappily,  the  age  of  violence 
has  been  succeeded  by  one  of  apathy. 

*8  "They  are  doubtless,"  says  Mr.  Latrobe,  speaking  of  what  he 
calls  "  these  inexplicable  ruins,"  "  rather  of  Toltec  than  Aztec  origin, 
and,  perhaps,  with  still  more  probability,  attributable  to  a  people  of 
an  age  yet  more  remote."  (Rambler  in  Mexico,  Let.  7.)  "  I  am  of 
opinion,"  says  Mr.  Bullock,  "  that  these  were  antiquities  prior  to  the 
discovery  of  America,  and  erected  by  a  people  whose  history  was  lost 
even  before  the  building  of  the  city  of  Mexico. — Who  can  solve  this 
difficulty?"  (Six  Months  in  Mexico,  ubi  supra.)  The  reader  who 
takes  Ixtlilxochitl  for  his  guide  will  have  no  great  trouble  in  solving  it. 
He  will  find  here,  as  he  might,  probably,  in  some  other  instances,  that 
one  need  go  little  higher  than  the  Conquest  for  the  origin  of  antiqui 
ties  which  claim  to  be  coeval  with  Phoenicia  and  ancient  Egypt. 

49  Zurita,  Rapport,  p.  12. 


ACCOMPLISHED    PRINCES.  187 

receive  the  sentence,  acquitted  the  young  couple.  This 
story  is  sadly  contrasted  by  the  following.50 

The  king  devoured  his  chagrin  in  the  solitude  of  his 
beautiful  villa  of  Tezcotzinco,  or  sought  to  divert  it  by 
travelling.  On  one  of  his  journeys  he  was  hospitably 
entertained  by  a  potent  vassal,  the  old  lord  of  Tepech- 
pan,  who,  to  do  his  sovereign  more  honor,  caused  him 
to  be  attended  at  the  banquet  by  a  noble  maiden,  be 
trothed  to  himself,  and  who,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
country,  had  been  educated  under  his  own  roof.  She 
was  of  the  blood  royal  of  Mexico,  and  nearly  related, 
moreover,  to  the  Tezcucan  monarch.  The  latter,  who 
had  all  the  amorous  temperament  of  the  South,  was 
captivated  by  the  grace  and  personal  charms  of  the 
youthful  Hebe,  and  conceived  a  violent  passion  for 
her.  He  did  not  disclose  it  to  any  one,  however,  but, 
on  his  return  home,  resolved  to  gratify  it,  though  at 
the  expense  of  his-  own  honor,  by  sweeping  away  the 
only  obstacle  which  stood  in  his  path. 

He  accordingly  sent  an  order  to  the  chief  of  Te- 
pechpan  to  take  command  of  an  expedition  set  on  foot 
against  the  Tlascalans.  At  the  same  time  he  instructed 
two  Tezcucan  chiefs  to  keep  near  the  person  of  the  old 
lord,  and  bring  him  into  the  thickest  of  the  fight, 
where  he  might  lose  his  life.  He  assured  them  this 
had  been  forfeited  by  a  great  crime,  but  that,  from 
regard  for  his  vassal's  past  services,  he  was  willing  to 
cover  up  his  disgrace  by  an  honorable  death. 

The  veteran,  who  had  long  lived  in  retirement  on 
his  estates,  saw  himself  with  astonishment  called  so 
suddenly  and  needlessly  into  action,  for  which  so 
5°  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  43. 


188  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

many  younger  men  were  better  fitted.  He  suspected 
the  cause,  and,  in  the  farewell  entertainment  to  his 
friends,  uttered  a  presentiment  of  his  sad  destiny.  His 
predictions  were  too  soon  verified  ;  and  a  few  weeks 
placed  the  hand  of  his  virgin  bride  at  her  own  dis 
posal. 

Nezahualcoyotl  did  not  think  it  prudent  to  break  his 
passion  publicly  to  the  princess  so  soon  after  the  death 
of  his  victim.  He  opened  a  correspondence  with  her 
through  a  female  relative,  and  expressed  his  deep  sym 
pathy  for  her  loss.  At  the  same  time,  he  tendered  the 
best  consolation  in  his  power,  by  an  offer  of  his  heart 
and  hand.  Her  former  lover  had  been  too  well  stricken 
in  years  for  the  maiden  to  remain  long  inconsolable. 
She  was  not  aware  of  the  perfidious  plot  against  his 
life ;  and,  after  a  decent  time,  she  was  ready  to  comply 
with  her  duty,  by  placing  herself  at  the  disposal  of  her 
royal  kinsman. 

It  was  arranged  by  the  king,  in  order  to  give  a  more 
natural  aspect  to  the  affair  and  prevent  all  suspicion 
of  the  unworthy  part  he  had  acted,  that  the  princess 
should  present  herself  in  his  grounds  at  Tezcotzinco, 
to  witness  some  public  ceremony  there.  Nezahual 
coyotl  was  standing  in  a  balcony  of  the  palace  when 
she  appeared,  and  inquired,  as  if  struck  with  her  beauty 
for  the  first  time,  "  who  the  lovely  young  creature  was, 
in  his  gardens."  When  his  courtiers  had  acquainted 
him  with  her  name  and  rank,  he  ordered  her  to  be 
conducted  to  the  palace,  that  she  might  receive  the 
attentions  due  to  her  station.  The  interview  was  soon 
followed  by  a  public  declaration  of  his  passion ;  and 
the  marriage  was  celebrated  not  long  after,  with  great 


ACCOMPLISHED    PRINCES.  189 

pomp,  in  the  presence  of  his  court,  and  of  his  brother 
monarchs  of  Mexico  and  Tlacopan.51 

This  story,  which  furnishes  so  obvious  a  counterpart 
to  that  of  David  and  Uriah,  is  told  with  great  circum 
stantiality,  both  by  the  king's  son  and  grandson,  from 
whose  narratives  Ixtlilxochitl  derived  it.52  They  stig 
matize  the  action  as  the  basest  in  their  great  ancestor's 
life.  It  is  indeed  too  base  not  to  leave  an  indelible 
stain  on  any  character,  however  pure  in  other  respects, 
and  exalted. 

The  king  was  strict  in  the  execution  of  his  laws, 
though  his  natural  disposition  led  him  to  temper  justice 
with  mercy.  Many  anecdotes  are  told  of  the  benevo 
lent  interest  he  took  in  the  concerns  of  his  subjects, 
and  of  his  anxiety  to  detect  and  reward  merit,  even  in 
the  most  humble.  It  was  common  for  him  to  ramble 
among  them  in  disguise,  like  the  celebrated  caliph  in 
the  "Arabian  Nights,"  mingling  freely  in  conversation, 
and  ascertaining  their  actual  condition  with  his  own 
eyes.53 

On  one  such  occasion,  when  attended  only  by  a 
single  lord,  he  met  with  a  boy  who  was  gathering  sticks 
in  a  field  for  fuel.  He  inquired  of  him  "why  he  did 
not  go  into  the  neighboring  forest,  where  he  would  find 
a  plenty  of  them."  To  which  the  lad  answered,  "It 
was  the  king's  wood,  and  he  would  punish  him  with 
death  if  he  trespassed  there."  The  royal  forests  were 

5*  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  43. 

52  Idem,  ubi  supra. 

53  "  En  traje  de  cazador  (que  lo  acostumbraba  &  hacer  muy  de 
ordinario),  saliendo  a  solas,  y  disfrazado  para  que  no  fuese  conocido, 
d.  reconocer  las  faltas  y  necesidad  que  havia  en  la  republica  para  re- 
mediarlas."      Idem.,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  46. 


1 90  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

very  extensive  in  Tezcuco,  and  were  guarded  by  laws 
full  as  severe  as  those  of  the  Norman  tyrants  in  Eng 
land.  "What  kind  of  man  is  your  king?"  asked  the 
monarch,  willing  to  learn  the  effect  of  these  prohibi 
tions  on  his  own  popularity.  "A  very  hard  man," 
answered  the  boy,  ''who  denies  his  people  what  God 
has  given  them."  S4  Nezahualcoyotl  urged  him  not  to 
mind  such  arbitrary  laws,  but  to  glean  his  sticks  in  the 
forest,  as  there  was  no  one  present  who  would  betray 
him.  But  the  boy  sturdily  refused,  bluntly  accusing 
the  disguised  king,  at  the  same  time,  of  being  a  traitor, 
and  of  wishing  to  bring  him  into  trouble. 

Nezahualcoyotl,  on  returning  to  the  palace,  ordered 
the  child  and  his  parents  to  be  summoned  before  him. 
They  received  the  orders  with  astonishment,  but,  on 
entering  the  presence,  the  boy  at  once  recognized  the 
person  with  whom  he  had  discoursed  so  unceremo 
niously,  and  he  was  filled  with  consternation.  The 
good-natured  monarch,  however,  relieved  his  appre 
hensions,  by  thanking  him  for  the  lesson  he  had  given 
him,  and,  at  the  same  time,  commended  his  respect 
for  the  laws,  and  praised  his  parents  for  the  manner  in 
which  they  had  trained  their  son.  He  then  dismissed 
the  parties  with  a  liberal  largess,  and  afterwards  miti 
gated  the  severity  of  the  forest  laws,  so  as  to  allow 
persons  to  gather  any  wood  they  might  find  on  the 
ground,  if  they  did  not  meddle  with  the  standing 
timber.53 

Another  adventure  is  told  of  him,  with  a  poor  wood- 

s*  "  Un  hombresillo  miserable,  pues  quita  a  los  hombres  lo  que  Dios 
&  manos  llenas  les  da."     Ixtlilxochitl,  loc.  cit. 
55  Ibid.,  cap.  46. 


ACCOMPLISHED    FXIATCES.  191 

man  and  his  wife,  who  had  brought  their  little  load  of 
billets  for  sale  to  the  market-place  of  Tezcuco.  The 
man  was  bitterly  lamenting  his  hard  lot,  and  the  dif 
ficulty  with  which  he  earned  a  wretched  subsistence, 
while  the  master  of  the  palace  before  which  they  were 
standing  lived  an  idle  life,  without  toil,  and  with  all 
the  luxuries  in  the  world  at  his  command. 

He  was  going  on  in  his  complaints,  when  the  good 
woman  stopped  him,  by  reminding  him  he  might  be 
overheard.  He  was  so,  by  Nezahualcoyotl  himself, 
who,  standing  screened  from  observation  at  a  latticed 
window  which  overlooked  the  market,  was  amusing 
himself,  as  he  was  wont,  with  observing  the  common 
people  chaffering  in  the  square.  He  immediately 
ordered  the  querulous  couple  into  his  presence.  They 
appeared  trembling  and  conscience-struck  before  him. 
The  king  gravely  inquired  what  they  had  said.  As  they 
answered  him  truly,  he  told  them  they  should  reflect 
that,  if  he  had  great  treasures  at  his  command,  he  had 
still  greater  calls  for  them  ;  that,  far  from  leading  an 
easy  life,  he  was  oppressed  with  the  whole  burden  of 
government ;  and  concluded  by  admonishing  them 
"to  be  more  cautious  in  future,  as  walls  had  ears."56 
He  then  ordered  his  officers  to  bring  a  quantity  of 
cloth  and  a  generous  supply  of  cacao  (the  coin  of 
the  country),  and  dismissed  them.  ''Go,"  said  he; 
"  with  the  little  you  now  have,  you  will  be  rich  ;  while, 
with  all  my  riches,  I  shall  still  be  poor."  57 

s<5  "  Porque  las  paredes  oian."  Clxtlilxochitl,  loc.  cit.)  A  European 
proverb  among  the  American  aborigines  looks  too  strange  not  to 
make  one  suspect  the  hand  of  the  chronicler. 

37  "  Le  dijo,  que  con  aquello  poco  le  bastaba,  y  viviria  bien  aventu- 


192  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

It  was  not  his  passion  to  hoard.  He  dispensed  his 
revenues  munificently,  seeking  out  poor  but  merito 
rious  objects  on  whom  to  bestow  them.  He  was  par 
ticularly  mindful  of  disabled  soldiers,  and  those  who 
had  in  any  way  sustained  loss  in  the  public  service, 
and,  in  case  of  their  death,  extended  assistance  to  their 
surviving  families.  Open  mendicity  was  a  thing  he 
would  never  tolerate,  but  chastised  it  with  exemplary 
rigor.58 

It  would  be  incredible  that  a  man  of  the  enlarged 
mind  and  endowments  of  Nezahualcoyotl  should  ac 
quiesce  in  the  sordid  superstitions  of  his  countrymen, 
and  still  more  in  the  sanguinary  rites  borrowed  by 
them  from  the  Aztecs.  In  truth,  his  humane  temper 
shrunk  from  these  cruel  ceremonies,  and  he  strenuously 
endeavored  to  recall  his  people  to  the  more  pure  and 
simple  worship  of  the  ancient  Toltecs.  A  circumstance 
produced  a  temporary  change  in  his  conduct. 

He  had  been  married  some  years  to  the  wife  he  had 
so  unrighteously  obtained,  but  was  not  blessed  with 
issue.  The  priests  represented  that  it  was  owing  to 
his  neglect  of  the  gods  of  his  country,  and  that  his 
only  remedy  was  to  propitiate  them  by  human  sacri 
fice.  The  king  reluctantly  consented,  and  the  altars 
once  more  smoked  with  the  blood  of  slaughtered  cap 
tives.  But  it  was  all  in  vain ;  and  he  indignantly 
exclaimed,  "  These  idols  of  wood  and  stone  can  neither 
hear  nor  feel ;  much  less  could  they  make  the  heavens, 
and  the  earth,  and  man,  the  lord  of  it.  These  must 

rado  ;  y  el,  con  toda  la  mdquina  que  le  parecia  que  tenia  arto,  no  tenia 
nada ;  y  asi  lo  despidio."     Ixtlilxochitl,  loc.  cit. 
58  Ibid. 


A  CCOMPL I  SHED    PRINCES. 


193 


be  the  work  of  the  all-powerful,  unknown  God,  Creator 
of  the  universe,  on  whom  alone  I  must  rely  for  con 
solation  and  support. ' '  59 

He  then  withdrew  to  his  rural  palace  of  Tezcotzinco, 
where  he  remained  forty  days,  fasting  and  praying  at 
stated  hours,  and  offering  up  no  other  sacrifice  than  the 
sweet  incense  of  copal,  and  aromatic  herbs  and  gums. 
At  the  expiration  of  this  time,  he  is  said  to  have  been 
comforted  by  a  vision  assuring  him  of  the  success  of 
his  petition.  At  all  events,  such  proved  to  be  the  fact ; 
and  this  was  followed  by  the  cheering  intelligence  of 
the  triumph  of  his  arms  in  a  quarter  where  he  had  lately 
experienced  some  humiliating  reverses.60 

Greatly  strengthened  in  his  former  religious  convic 
tions,  he  now  openly  professed  his  faith,  and  was  more 
earnest  to  wean  his  subjects  from  their  degrading  super 
stitions  and  to  substitute  nobler  and  more  spiritual 
conceptions  of  the  Deity.  He  built  a  temple  in  the 
usual  pyramidal  form,  and  on  the  summit  a  tower  nine 
stories  high,  to  represent  the  nine  heavens ;  a  tenth 
was  surmounted  by  a  roof  painted  black,  and  profusely 

59  "  Verdaderamente  los  Dioses  que  io  adoro,  que  son  idolos  de 
picdra  que  no  hablan,  ni  sienten,  no  pudieron  hacer  ni  formar  la  her- 
mosura  del  cielo,  el  sol,  luna,  y  estrellas  que  lo  hermosean,  y  dan  luz 
a  la  ticrra,  rios,  aguas  y  fuentes,  arboles,  y  plantas  que  la  hermosean, 
las  gentes  que  la  poseen,  y  todo  lo  criado  ;  algun  Dios  muy  poderoso, 
oculto,  y  no  conocido  es  el  Criador  de  todo  el  universe.     El  solo  es  el 
que  puede  consolarme  en  mi  afliccion,  y  socorrerme  en  tan  grande 
angustia  como  mi  corazon  siente."     MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl. 

60  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl. — The  manuscript  here  quoted  is  one  of  the 
many  left  by  the  author  on  the  antiquities  of  his  country,  and  forms 
part  of  a  voluminous  compilation  made  in  Mexico  by  Father  Vega, 
in  1792,  by  order  of  the  Spanish  government.     See  Appendix,  Part 
2,  No.  2. 

VOL.  I.— i  17 


I94  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

gilded  with  stars,  on  the  outside,  and  incrusted  with 
metals  and  precious  stones  within.  He  dedicated  this 
to  ' '  the  unknown  God,  the  Cause  of  causes. "  6t  It  seems 
probable,  from  the  emblem  on  the  tower,  as  well  as 
from  the  complexion  of  his  verses,  as  we  shall  see,  that 
he  mingled  with  his  reverence  for  the  Supreme  the 
astral  worship  which  existed  among  the  Toltecs.62  Vari 
ous  musical  instruments  were  placed  on  the  top  of  the 
tower,  and  the  sound  of  them,  accompanied  by  the 
ringing  of  a  sonorous  metal  struck  by  a  mallet,  sum 
moned  the  worshippers  to  prayers,  at  regular  seasons.65 
No  image  was  allowed  in  the  edifice,  as  imsuited  to  the 
"invisible  God;"  and  the  people  were  expressly  pro 
hibited  from  profaning  the  altars  with  blood,  or  any 
other  sacrifices  than  that  of  the  perfume  of  flowers  and 
sweet-scented  gums. 

The  remainder  of  his  days  was  chiefly  spent  in  his 
delicious  solitudes  of  Tezcotzinco,  where  he  devoted 
himself  to  astronomical  and,  probably,  astrological 
studies,  and  to  meditation  on  his  immortal  destiny, — - 
giving  utterance  to  his  feelings  in  songs,  or  rather 
hymns,  of  much  solemnity  and  pathos.  An  extract 

61  "  Al  Dios  no  conocido,  causa  de  las  causas."    MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl. 

62  Their  earliest  temples  were  dedicated  to  the  sun.     The  moon 
they  worshipped  as  his  wife,   and  the  stars  as  his  sisters.     (Veytia, 
Hist,  antig.,  torn.  i.  cap.  25.)     The  ruins  still  existing  at  Teotihuacan, 
about  seven  leagues  from  Mexico,  are  supposed  to  have  been  temples 
raised  by  this  ancient  people  in  honor  of  the  two  great  deities.    Botu- 
rini,  Idea,  p.  42. 

63  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl.— "  This  was  evidently  a  gong,"  says  Mr. 
Ranking,  who  treads  with  enviable  confidence  over  the  "  suppositos 
cineres"  in  the  path  of  the  antiquary.     See  his  Historical  Researches 
on  the  Conquest  of  Peru,  Mexico,  etc.,  by  the  Mongols  (London, 
1827),  p.  310. 


ACCOMPLISHED    PRINCES.  195 

from  one  of  these  will  convey  some  idea  of  his  re 
ligious  speculations.  The  pensive  tenderness  of  the 
verses  quoted  in  a  preceding  page  is  deepened  here 
into  a  mournful,  and  even  gloomy,  coloring;  while 
the  wounded  spirit,  instead  of  seeking  relief  in  the 
convivial  sallies  of  a  young  and  buoyant  temperament, 
turns  for  consolation  to  the  world  beyond  the  grave : 

"All  things  on  earth  have  their  term,  and,  in  the 
most  joyous  career  of  their  vanity  and  splendor,  their 
strength  fails,  and  they  sink  into  the  dust.  All  the 
round  world  is  but  a  sepulchre ;  and  there  is  nothing 
which  lives  on  its  surface  that  shall  not  be  hidden  and 
entombed  beneath  it.  Rivers,  torrents,  and  streams 
move  onward  to  their  destination.  Not  one  flows  back 
to  its  pleasant  source.  They  rush  onward,  hastening 
to  bury  themselves  in  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean. 
The  things  of  yesterday  are  no  more  to-day ;  and  the 
things  of  to-day  shall  cease,  perhaps,  on  the  morrow.64 
The  cemetery  is  full  of  the  loathsome  dust  of  bodies, 
once  quickened  by  living  souls,  who  occupied  thrones, 
presided  over  assemblies,  marshalled  armies,  subdued 
provinces,  arrogated  to  themselves  worship,  were  puffed 
up  with  vainglorious  pomp,  and  power,  and  empire. 

"But  these  glories  have  all  passed  away,  like  the 
fearful  smoke  that  issues  from  the  throat  of  Popo- 

64  "  Toda  la  redondez  de  la  tierra  es  un  sepulcro  :  no  hay  cosa  que 
sustente  que  con  titulo  de  piedad  no  la  esconda  y  entierre.  Corren 
los  rios,  los  arroyos,  las  fuentes,  y  las  aguas,  y  ningunas  retroceden 
para  sus  alegres  nacimientos  :  aceleranse  con  ansia  para  los  vastos 
dominios  de  Tluloca  [Neptuno],  y  cuanto  mas  se  arriman  a  sus  dila- 
tadas  mdrgenes,  tanto  mas  van  labrando  las  melancolicas  urnas  para 
sepultarse.  Lo  que  fue  ayer  no  es  hoy,  ni  lo  de  hoy  se  afianza  que 
sera  manana." 


196  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

catepetl,  with  no  other  memorial  of  their  existence  than 
the  record  on  the  page  of  the  chronicler. 

"The  great,  the  wise,  the  valiant,  the  beautiful, — • 
alas  !  where  are  they  now  ?  They  are  all  mingled  with 
the  clod  ;  and  that  which  has  befallen  them  shall  happen 
to  us,  and  to  those  that  come  after  us.  Yet  let  us  take 
courage,  illustrious  nobles  and  chieftains,  true  friends 
and  loyal  subjects, — let  us  aspire  to  that  heaven  where 
all  is  eternal  and  corruption  cannot  cornel  The  horrors 
of  the  tomb  are  but  the  cradle  of  the  Sun,  and  the  dark 
shadows  of  death  are  brilliant  lights  for  the  stars.".66 
The  mystic  import  of  the  last  sentence  seems  to  point 
to  that  superstition  respecting  the  mansions  of  the  Sun, 
which  forms  so  beautiful  a  contrast  to  the  dark  features 
of  the  Aztec  mythology. 

At  length,  about  the  year   i47o,67  Nezahualcoyotl, 

65  "  Aspiremos  al  cielo,  que  alii  todo  es  elerno  y  nada  se  corrompe." 

66  "  El  horror  del  sepulcro  es  lisongera  cuna  para  el,  y  las  funestas 
sombras,  brillantes  luces  para  los  astros." — The  original  text  and  a 
Spanish  translation  of  this  poem  first  appeared,  I  believe,  in  a  work 
of  Granados  y  Galvez.     (Tardes  Americanas  (Mexico,  1778),  p.  90, 
et  seq.     The  original  is  in  the  Otomi  tongue,  and  both,  together  with 
a  French  version,  have  been  inserted  by  M.  Ternaux-Compans  in  the 
Appendix  to  his  translation  of  Ixtlilxochitl's  Hist,  des  Chichimeques 
(torn.  i.  pp.  359-367).      Bustamante,  who    has,  also,  published   the 
Spanish  version   in   his   Galeria   de   antiguos    Principes    Mejicanos 
(Puebla,  1821,  pp.  16,  17),  calls  it  the  "  Ode  of  the  Flower,"  which 
was  recited  at  a  banquet  of  the  great  Tezcucan  nobles.     If  this  last, 
however,  be  the  same  mentioned  by  Torquemada  (Monarch.  Ind., 
lib.  2,  cap.  45),  it  must  have  been  written  in  the  Tezcucan  tongue; 
and,  indeed,  it  is  not  probable  that  the  Otomi,  an  Indian  dialect,  so 
distinct  from  the  languages  of  Anahuac,  however  well  understood  by 
the  royal  poet,  could  have  been  comprehended  by  a  miscellaneous 
audience  of  his  countrymen. 

67  An  approximation  to  a  date  is  the  most  one  can  hope  to  arrive 
at  with  Ixtlilxochitl,  who  has  entangled  his  chronology  in  a  manner 


ACCOMPLISHED    PRINCES.  197 

full  of  years  and  honors,  felt  himself  drawing  near  his 
end.  Almost  half  a  century  had  elapsed  since  he 
mounted  the  throne  of  Tezcuco.  He  had  found  his 
kingdom  dismembered  by  faction  and  bowed  to  the  dust 
beneath  the  yoke  of  a  foreign  tyrant.  He  had  broken 
that  yoke ;  had  breathed  new  life  into  the  nation, 
renewed  its  ancient  institutions,  extended  wide  its 
domain ;  had  seen  it  flourishing  in  all  the  activity 
of  trade  and  agriculture,  gathering  strength  from  its 
enlarged  resources,  and  daily  advancing  higher  and 
higher  in  the  great  march  of  civilization.  All  this  he 
had  seen,  and  might  fairly  attribute  no  small  portion 
of  it  to  his  own  wise  and  beneficent  rule.  His  long 
and  glorious  day  was  now  drawing  to  its  close ;  and  he 
contemplated  the  event  with  the  same  serenity  which 
he  had  shown  under  the  clouds  of  its  morning  and  in 
its  meridian  splendor. 

A  short  time  before  his  death,  he  gathered  around 
him  those  of  his  children  in  whom  he  most  confided, 
his  chief  counsellors,  the  ambassadors  of  Mexico  and 
Tlacopan,  and  his  little  son,  the  heir  to  the  crown,  his 
only  offspring  by  the  queen.  He  was  then  not  eight 
years  old,  but  had  already  given,  as  far  as  so  tender  a 
blossom  might,  the  rich  promise  of  future  excellence.68 

After  tenderly  embracing  the  child,  the  dying  mon 
arch  threw  over  him  the  robes  of  sovereignty.  He 
then  gave  audience  to  the  ambassadors,  and,  when  they 

beyond  my  skill  to  unravel.  Thus,  after  telling  us  that  Nezahual- 
coyotl  was  fifteen  years  old  when  his  father  was  slain  in  1418,  he  says 
he  died  at  the  age  of  seventy-one,  in  1462.  Instar  omnium.  Comp. 
Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  18,  19,  49. 

68  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl,— also  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  49. 
I7* 


198  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

had  retired,  made  the  boy  repeat  the  substance  of  the 
conversation.  He  followed  this  by  such  counsels  as 
were  suited  to  his  comprehension,  and  which,  when  re 
membered  through  the  long  vista  of  after-years,  would 
serve  as  lights  to  guide  him  in  his  government  of  the 
kingdom.  He  besought  him  not  to  neglect  the  wor 
ship  of  "  the  unknown  God,"  regretting  that  he  himself 
had  been  unworthy  to  know  him,  and  intimating  his 
conviction  that  the  time  would  come  when  he  should 
be  known  and  worshipped  throughout  the  land.69 

He  next  addressed  himself  to  that  one  of  his  sons  in 
whom  he  placed  the  greatest  trust,  and  whom  he  had 
selected  as  the  guardian  of  the  realm.  "From  this 
hour,"  said  he  to  him,  "you  will  fill  the  place  that  I 
have  filled,  of  father  to  this  child ;  you  will  teach  him 
to  live  as  he  ought ;  and  by  your  counsels  he  will  rule 
over  the  empire.  Stand  in  his  place,  and  be  his  guide, 
till  he  shall  be  of  age  to  govern  for  himself."  Then, 
turning  to  his  other  children,  he  admonished  them  to 
live  united  with  one  another,  and  to  show  all  loyalty  to 
their  prince,  who,  though  a  child,  already  manifested 
a  discretion  far  above  his  years.  "Be  true  to  him," 
he  added,  "and  he  will  maintain  you  in  your  rights 
and  dignities. ' '  7° 

Feeling  his  end  approaching,  he  exclaimed,  "Do 
not  bewail  me  with  idle  lamentations.  But  sing  the 

*9  "  No  consentiendo  que  haya  sacrificios  de  gente  humana,  que 
Dios  se  enoja  de  ello,  castigando  con  rigor  a  los  que  lo  hicieren  ;  que 
el  dolor  que  llevo  es  no  tener  luz,  ni  conocimiento,  ni  ser  merecedor 
de  conocer  tan  gran  Dios,  el  qual  tengo  por  cierto  que  ya  que  los 
presentes  no  lo  conozcan,  ha  de  venir  tiempo  en  que  sea  conocido  y 
adorado  en  esta  tierra."  MS.  de  Ixtlilxochitl. 

7*  Idem,  ubi  supra;  also  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  49. 


ACCOMPLISHED    PRINCES.  199 

song  of  gladness,  and  show  a  courageous  spirit,  that 
the  nations  I  have  subdued  may  not  believe  you  dis 
heartened,  but  may  feel  that  each  one  of  you  is  strong 
enough  to  keep  them  in  obedience  !"  The  undaunted 
spirit  of  the  monarch  shone  forth  even  in  the  agonies 
of  death.  That  stout  heart,  however,  melted,  as  he 
took  leave  of  his  children  and  friends,  weeping  tenderly 
over  them,  while  he  bade  each  a  last  adieu.  When 
they  had  withdrawn,  he  ordered  the  officers  of  the 
palace  to  allow  no  one  to  enter  it  again.  Soon  after, 
he  expired,  in  the  seventy-second  year  of  his  age,  and 
the  forty-third  of  his  reign.71 

Thus  died  the  greatest  monarch,  and,  if  one  foul  blot 
could  be  effaced,  perhaps  the  best,  who  ever  sat  upon 
an  Indian  throne.  His  character  is  delineated  with 
tolerable  impartiality  by  his  kinsman,  the  Tezcucan 
chronicler  :  "  He  was  wise,  valiant,  liberal ;  and,  when 
we  consider  the  magnanimity  of  his  soul,  the  grandeur 
and  success  of  his  enterprises,  his  deep  policy,  as  well 
as  daring,  we  must  admit  him  to  have  far  surpassed 
every  other  prince  and  captain  of  this  New  World.  He 
had  few  failings  himself,  and  rigorously  punished  those 
of  others.  He  preferred  the  public  to  his  private  in 
terest  ;  was  most  charitable  in  his  nature,  often  buy 
ing  articles,  at  double  their  worth,  of  poor  and  honest 
persons,  and  giving  them  away  again  to  the  sick  and 
infirm.  In  seasons  of  scarcity  he  was  particularly 
bountiful,  remitting  the  taxes  of  his  vassals,  and  sup 
plying  their  wants  from  the  royal  granaries.  He  put 
no  faith  in  the  idolatrous  worship  of  the  country.  He 
was  well  instructed  in  moral  science,  and  sought,  above 
7'  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  49. 


200  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

all  things,  to  obtain  light  for  knowing  the  true  God. 
He  believed  in  one  God  only,  the  Creator  of  heaven 
and  earth,  by  whom  we  have  our  being,  who  never 
revealed  himself  to  us  in  human  form,  nor  in  any 
other;  with  whom  the  souls  of  the  virtuous  are  to 
dwell  after  death,  while  the  wicked  will  suffer  pains 
unspeakable.  He  invoked  the  Most  High,  as  '  He  by 
whom  we  live, '  and  '  Who  has  all  things  in  himself. ' 
He  recognized  the  Sun  for  his  father,  and  the  Earth 
for  his  mother.  He  taught  his  children  not  to  confide 
in  idols,  and  only  to  conform  to  the  outward  worship 
of  them  from  deference  to  public  opinion.72  If  he 
could  not  entirely  abolish  human  sacrifices,  derived 
from  the  Aztecs,  he  at  least  restricted  them  to  slaves 
and  captives. ' ' 73 

I  have  occupied  so  much  space  with  this  illustrious 
prince  that  but  little  remains  for  his  son  and  successor, 
Nezahualpilli.  I  have  thought  it  better,  in  our  narrow 
limits,  to  present  a  complete  view  of  a  single  epoch, 
the  most  interesting  in  the  Tezcucan  annals,  than  to 
spread  the  inquiries  over  a  broader  but  comparatively 
barren  field.  Yet  Nezahualpilli,  the  heir  to  the  crown, 
was  a  remarkable  person,  and  his  reign  contains  many 
incidents  which  I  regret  to  be  obliged  to  pass  over  in 
silence.74 

72  "  Solia  amonestar  d  sus  hijos  en  secreto  que  no  adorasen  &  aque- 
Ilas  figuras  de  idolos,  y  que  aquello  que  hiciesen  en  publico  fuese 
solo  por  cumplimiento."     Ixtlilxochitl. 

73  Idem,  ubi  supra. 

74  The  name  Nezahualpilli  signifies  "  the  prince  for  whom  one  has 
fasted," — in  allusion,  no  doubt,  to  the  long  fast  of  his  father  previous 
to  his  birth.     (See  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  45.)     I  have 
explained  the  meaning  of  the  equally  euphonious  name  of  his  parent, 
Nezabualcoyotl.     (Ante,  ch.  4.)     If  it  be  true  that 


ACCOMPLISHED    PRINCES.  201 

He  had,  in  many  respects,  a  taste  similar  to  his 
father's,  and,  like  him,  displayed  a  profuse  magnifi 
cence  in  his  way  of  living  and  in  his  public  edifices. 
He  was  more  severe  in  his  morals,  and,  in  the  execu 
tion  of  justice,  stern  even  to  the  sacrifice  of  natural 
affection.  Several  remarkable  instances  of  this  are 
told ;  one,  among  others,  in  relation  to  his  eldest  son, 
the  heir  to  the  crown,  a  prince  of  great  promise.  The 
young  man  entered  into  a  poetical  correspondence 
with  one  of  his  father's  concubines,  the  lady  of  Tula, 
as  she  was  called,  a  woman  of  humble  origin,  but  of 
uncommon  endowments.  She  wrote  verses  with  ease, 
and  could  discuss  graver  matters  with  the  king  and  his 
ministers.  She  maintained  a  separate  establishment, 
where  she  lived  in  state,  and  acquired,  by  her  beauty 
and  accomplishments,  great  ascendency  over  her  royal 
lover.75  With  this  favorite  the  prince  carried  on  a 
correspondence  in  verse, — whether  of  an  amorous 
nature  does  not  appear.  At  all  events,  the  offence 
was  capital.  It  was  submitted  to  the  regular  tribunal, 
who  pronounced  sentence  of  death  on  the  unfortunate 

"  Caesar  or  Epaminondas 
Could  ne'er  without  names  have  been  known  to  us," 

it  is  no  less  certain  that  such  names  as  those  of  the  two  Tezcucan 
princes,  so  difficult  to  be  pronounced  or  remembered  by  a  European, 
are  most  unfavorable  to  immortality. 

75  "  De  las  concubinas  la  que  mas  privo  con  el  rey  fue  la  que  llama- 
ban  la  Senora  de  Tula,  no  por  linage,  sino  porque  era  hija  de  un 
mercader,  y  era  tan  sabia  que  competia  con  el  rey  y  con  los  mas 
sabios  de  su  reyno,  y  era  en  la  poesia  muy  aventajada,  que  con  estas 
gracias  y  dones  naturales  tenia  al  rey  muy  sugeto  a  su  voluntad  de 
tal  manera  que  lo  que  queria  alcanzaba  de  el,  y  asi  vivia  sola  por  si 
con  grande  aparato  y  magestad  en  unos  palacios  que  el  rey  le  mando 
edificar."  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  57. 
I* 


202  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

youth ;  and  the  king,  steeling  his  heart  against  all 
entreaties  and  the  voice  of  nature,  suffered  the  cruel 
judgment  to  be  carried  into  execution.  We  might,  in 
this  case,  suspect  the  influence  of  baser  passions  on  his 
mind,  but  it  was  not  a  solitary  instance  of  his  inex 
orable  justice  towards  those  most  near  to  him.  He 
had  the  stern  virtue  of  an  ancient  Roman,  destitute  of 
the  softer  graces  which  make  virtue  attractive.  When 
the  sentence  was  carried  into  effect,  he  shut  himself  up 
in  his  palace  for  many  weeks,  and  commanded  the 
doors  and  windows  of  his  son's  residence  to  be  walled 
up,  that  it  might  never  again  be  occupied.76 

Nezahualpilli  resembled  his  father  in  his  passion  for 
astronomical  studies,  and  is  said  to  have  had  an  ob 
servatory  on  one  of  his  palaces.77  He  was  devoted  to 
war  in  his  youth,  but,  as  he  advanced  in  years,  resigned 
himself  to  a  more  indolent  way  of  life,  and  sought  his 
chief  amusement  in  the  pursuit  of  his  favorite  science, 
or  in  the  soft  pleasures  of  the  sequestered  gardens  of 
Tezcotzinco.  This  quiet  life  was  ill  suited  to  the 
turbulent  temper  of  the  times,  and  of  his  Mexican 
rival,  Montezuma.  The  distant  provinces  fell  off  from 

76  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  67.— The  Tezcucan  historian 
records  several  appalling  examples  of  this  severity, — one  in  particular, 
in  relation  to  his  guilty  wife.     The  story,  reminding  one  of  the  tales  of 
an  Oriental  harem,  has  been  translated  for  the  Appendix,  Part  2,  No.  4. 
See  also  Torquemada  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  66),  and  Zurita 
(Rapport,  pp.  108,  109).    He  was  the  terror,  in  particular,  of  all  unjust 
magistrates.    They  had  little  favor  to  expect  from  the  man  who  could 
stifle  the  voice  of  nature  in  his  own  bosom  in  obedience  to  the  laws. 
As  Suetonius  said  of  a  prince  who  had  not  his  virtue,  "  Vehemens  et 
in  coercendis  quidem  delictis  immodicus."     Vita  Galbas,  sec.  9. 

77  Torquemada  saw  the  remains  of  this,  or  what  passed  for  such,  in 
his  day.     Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  2,  cap.  64. 


ACCOMPLISHED    PRINCES.  203 

their  allegiance ;  the  army  relaxed  its  discipline ;  dis 
affection  crept  into  its  ranks ;  and  the  wily  Monte- 
zuma,  partly  by  violence,  and  partly  by  stratagems  un 
worthy  of  a  king,  succeeded  in  plundering  his  brother 
monarch  of  some  of  his  most  valuable  domains.  Then 
it  was  that  he  arrogated  to  himself  the  title  and  su 
premacy  of  emperor,  hitherto  borne  by  the  Tezcucan 
princes  as  head  of  the  alliance.  Such  is  the  account 
given  by  the  historians  of  that  nation,  who  in  this 
way  explain  the  acknowledged  superiority  of  the  Aztec 
sovereign,  both  in  territory  and  consideration,  on  the 
landing  of  the  Spaniards.78 

These  misfortunes  pressed  heavily  on  the  spirits  of 
Nezahualpilli.  Their  effect  was  increased  by  certain 
gloomy  prognostics  of  a  near  calamity  which  was  to 
overwhelm  the  country.79  He  withdrew  to  his  retreat, 
to  brood  in  secret  over  his  sorrows.  His  health  rapidly 
declined;  and  in  the  year  1515,  at  the  age  of  fifty 
two,  he  sank  into  the  grave ; 8o  happy,  at  least,  that 
by  this  timely  death  he  escaped  witnessing  the  fulfil 
ment  of  his  own  predictions,  in  the  ruin  of  his  country, 
and  the  extinction  of  the  Indian  dynasties  forever.81 

78  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  73,  74. — This  sudden  transfer 
of  empire  from  the  Tezcucans,  at  the  close  of  the  reigns  of  two  of 
their  ablest  monarchs,  is  so  improbable  that  one  cannot  but  doubt  if 
they  ever  possessed  it, — at  least  to  the  extent  claimed  by  the  patriotic 
historian.     See  ante,  chap,  i,  note  25,  and  the  corresponding  text. 

79  Ibid.,  cap.  72. — The  reader  will  find  a  particular  account  of  these 
prodigies,  better  authenticated  than  most  miracles,  in  a  future  page 
of  this  history. 

80  Ibid.,  cap.  75. — Or,  rather,  at  the  age  of  fifty,  if  the  historian  is 
right  in  placing  his  birth,  as  he  does  in  a  preceding  chapter,  in  1465. 
(See  cap.  46.)     It  is  not  easy  to  decide  what  is  true,  when  the  writer 
does  not  take  the  trouble  to  be  true  to  himself. 

8x  His  obsequies  were  celebrated  with  sanguinary  pomp.     Two 


204  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

In  reviewing  the  brief  sketch  here  presented  of  the 
Tezcucan  monarchy,  we  are  strongly  impressed  with 
the  conviction  of  its  superiority,  in  all  the  great  fea 
tures  of  civilization,  over  the  rest  of  Anahuac.  The 
Mexicans  showed  a  similar  proficiency,  no  doubt,  in 
the  mechanic  arts,  and  even  in  mathematical  science. 
But  in  the  science  of  government,  in  legislation,  in 
speculative  doctrines  of  a  religious  nature,  in  the  more 
elegant  pursuits  of  poetry,  eloquence,  and  whatever 
depended  on  refinement  of  taste  and  a  polished  idiom, 
they  confessed  themselves  inferior,  by  resorting  to  their 
rivals  for  instruction  and  citing  their  works  as  the 
masterpieces  of  their  tongue.  The  best  histories,  the 
best  poems,  the  best  code  of  laws,  the  purest  dialect, 
were  all  allowed  to  be  Tezcucan.  The  Aztecs  rivalled 
their  neighbors  in  splendor  of  living,  and  even  in  the 
magnificence  of  their  structures.  They  displayed  a 
pomp  and  ostentatious  pageantry  truly  Asiatic.  But 
this  was  the  development  of  the  material  rather  than 
the  intellectual  principle.  They  wanted  the  refinement 
of  manners  essential  to  a  continued  advance  in  civil 
ization.  An  insurmountable  limit  was  put  to  theirs 
by  that  bloody  mythology  which  threw  its  withering 
taint  over  the  very  air  that  they  breathed. 

The  superiority  of  the  Tezcucans  was  owing,  doubt 
less,  in  a  great  measure  to  that  of  the  two  sovereigns 
whose  reigns  we  have  been  depicting.  There  is  no 

hundred  male  and  one  hundred  female  slaves  were  sacrificed  at  his 
tomb.  His  body  was  consumed,  amidst  a  heap  of  jewels,  precious 
stuffs,  and  incense,  on  a  funeral  pile ;  and  the  ashes,  deposited  in  a 
golden  urn,  were  placed  in  the  great  temple  of  Huitzilopochtli,  for 
whose  worship  the  king,  notwithstanding  the  lessons  of  his  father, 
had  some  partiality.  Ixtlilxochitl. 


DECLINE    OF    THE    MONARCHY.  205 

position  which  affords  such  scope  for  ameliorating  the 
condition  of  man  as  that  occupied  by  an  absolute  ruler 
over  a  nation  imperfectly  civilized.  From  his  elevated 
place,  commanding  all  the  resources  of  his  age,  it  is 
in  his  power  to  diffuse  them  far  and  wide  among  his 
people.  He  may  be  the  copious  reservoir  on  the 
mountain-top,  drinking  in  the  dews  of  heaven,  to  send 
them  in  fertilizing  streams  along  the  lower  slopes  and 
valleys,  clothing  even  the  wilderness  in  beauty.  Such 
were  Nezahualcoyotl  and  his  illustrious  successor,  whose 
enlightened  policy,  extending  through  nearly  a  century, 
wrought  a  most  salutary  revolution  in  the  condition  of 
their  country.  It  is  remarkable  that  we,  the  inhab 
itants  of  the  same  continent,  should  be  more  familiar 
with  the  history  of  many  a  barbarian  chief,  both  in  the 
Old  and  New  World,  than  with  that  of  these  truly 
great  men,  whose  names  are  identified  with  the  most 
glorious  period  in  "the  annals  of  the  Indian  races. 

What  was  the  actual  amount  of  the  Tezcucan  civil 
ization  it  is  not  easy  to  determine,  with  the  imperfect 
light  afforded  us.  It  was  certainly  far  below  anything 
which  the  word  conveys,  measured  by  a  European 
standard.  In  some  of  the  arts,  and  in  any  walk  of 
science,  they  could  only  have  made,  as  it  were,  a  be 
ginning.  But  they  had  begun  in  the  right  way,  and 
already  showed  a  refinement  in  sentiment  and  manners, 
a  capacity  for  receiving  instruction,  which,  under  good 
auspices,  might  have  led  them  on  to  indefinite  improve 
ment.  Unhappily,  they  were  fast  falling  under  the 
dominion  of  the  warlike  Aztecs.  And  that  people 
repaid  the  benefits  received  from  their  more  polished 
neighbors  by  imparting  to  them  their  own  ferocious 
VOL.  I.  1 8 


So6  AZTEC    CIVILIZATION. 

superstition,  which,  falling  like  a  mildew  on  the  land, 
would  soon  have  blighted  its  rich  blossoms  of  promise 
and  turned  even  its  fruits  to  dust  and  ashes. 


Fernando  de  Alva  Ixtlilxochitl,  who  flourished  in  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century,*  was  a  native  of  Tezcuco,  and  descended  in  a 
direct  line  from  the  sovereigns  of  that  kingdom.  The  royal  posterity 
became  so  numerous  in  a  few  generations  that  it  was  common  to  see 
them  reduced  to  great  poverty  and  earning  a  painful  subsistence 
by  the  most  humble  occupations.  Ixtlilxochitl,  who  was  descended 
from  the  principal  wife  or  queen  of  Nezahualpilli,  maintained  a  very 
respectable  position.  He  filled  the  office  of  interpreter  to  the  viceroy, 
to  which  he  was  recommended  by  his  acquaintance  with  the  ancient 
hieroglyphics  and  his  knowledge  of  the  Mexican  and  Spanish  lan 
guages.  His  birth  gave  him  access  to  persons  of  the  highest  rank 
in  his  own  nation,  some  of  whom  occupied  important  civil  posts  under 
the  new  government,  and  were  thus  enabled  to  make  large  collections 
of  Indian  manuscripts,  which  were  liberally  opened  to  him.  He  had 
an  extensive  library  of  his  own,  also,  and  with  these  means  diligently 
pursued  the  study  of  the  Tezcucan  antiquities.  He  deciphered  the 
hieroglyphics,  made  himself  master  of  the  songs  and  traditions,  and 
fortified  his  narrative  by  the  oral  testimony  of  some  very  aged  persons, 
who  had  themselves  been  acquainted  with  the  Conquerors.  From  such 
authentic  sources  he  composed  various  works  in  the  Castilian,  on  the 
primitive  history  of  the  Toltec  and  the  Tezcucan  races,  continuing 
it  down  to  the  subversion  of  the  empire  by  Cortes.  These  various 
accounts,  compiled  under  the  title  of  Relaciones,  are;  more  or  less, 
repetitions  and  abridgments  of  each  other ;  nor  is  it  easy  to  under 
stand  why  they  were  thus  composed.  The  Historla  Chichimeca  is  the 
best  digested  and  most  complete  of  the  whole  series,  and  as  such  has 
been  the  most  frequently  consulted  for  the  preceding  pages. 

Ixtlilxochitl's  writings  have  many  of  the  defects  belonging  to  his 
age.  He  often  crowds  the  page  with  incidents  of  a  trivial,  and  some- 


*  [Ixtlilxochitl  wrote  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
A  certificate  which  he  presented  to  the  viceroy  bears  the  date  of 
November  18,  1608.  The  error  is  apparently  a  clerical  one  ;  though  a 
previous  passage  in  the  text  seems  to  indicate  some  confusion  on  the 
author's  part. — ED.] 


TX  TL IL  XO  CHI  TL . 


207 


times  improbable,  character.  The  improbability  increases  with  the 
distance  of  the  period ;  for  distance,  which  diminishes  objects  to  the 
natural  eye,  exaggerates  them  to  the  mental.  His  chronology,  as  I 
have  more  than  once  noticed,  is  inextricably  entangled.  He  has  often 
lent  a  too  willing  ear  to  traditions  and  reports  which  would  startle  the 
more  skeptical  criticism  of  the  present  time.  Yet  there  is  an  appear 
ance  of  good  faith  and  simplicity  in  his  writings,  which  rnay  convince 
the  reader  that  when  he  errs  it  is  from  no  worse  cause  than  national 
partiality.  And  surely  such  partiality  is  excusable  in  the  descendant 
of  a  proud  line,  shorn  of  its  ancient  splendors,  which  it  was  soothing 
to  his  own  feelings  to  revive  again — though  with  something  more  than 
their  legitimate  lustre — on  the  canvas  of  history.  It  should  also  be 
considered  that,  if  his  narrative  is  sometimes  startling,  his  researches 
penetrate  into  the  mysterious  depths  of  antiquity,  where  light  and 
darkness  meet  and  melt  into  each  other,  and  where  everything  is  still 
further  liable  to  distortion,  as  seen  through  the  misty  medium  of  hiero 
glyphics.* 

With  these  allowances,  it  will  be  found  that  the  Tezcucan  historian 
has  just  claims  to  our  admiration  for  the  compass  of  his  inquiries  and 
the  sagacity  with  which  they  have  been  conducted.  He  has  introduced 
us  to  the  knowledge  of  the  most  polished  people  of  Anahuac,  whose 
records,  if  preserved,  could  not,  at  a  much  later  period,  have  been 
comprehended ;  and  he  has  thus  afforded  a  standard  of  comparison 
which  much  raises  our  ideas  of  American  civilization.  His  language 
is  simple,  and,  occasionally,  eloquent  and  touching.  His  descriptions 
are  highly  picturesque.  He  abounds  in  familiar  anecdote ;  and  the 
natural  graces  of  his  manner,  in  detailing  the  more  striking  events  of 
history  and  the  personal  adventures  of  his  heroes,  entitle  him  to  the 
name  of  the  Livy  of  Anahuac. 

I  shall  be  obliged  to  enter  hereafter  into  his  literary  merits,  in  con 
nection  with  the  narrative  of  the  Conquest ;  for  which  he  is  a  prominent 
authority.  His  earlier  annals — though  no  one  of  his  manuscripts  has 
been  printed — have  been  diligently  studied  by  the  Spanish  writers  in 
Mexico,  and  liberally  transferred  to  their  pages  ;  and  his  reputation, 


*  [Sefior  Ramirez  objects  to  this  remark,  on  the  ground  that, 
however  obscure  the  hieroglyphics  may  now  seem,  at  the  time  of 
Ixtlilxochitl  they  were,  in  his  language,  "  as  plain  as  our  letters  to 
those  who  were  acquainted  with  them."  Notas  y  Esclarecimientos, 
p.  10. — ED.] 


2o8  IXTLILXOCHITL. 

like  Sahagun's,  has  doubtless  suffered  by  the  process.  His  Historic 
Chichimeca  is  now  turned  into  French  by  M.  Ternaux-Compans, 
forming  part  of  that  inestimable  series  of  translations  from  unpub 
lished  documents  which  have  so  much  enlarged  our  acquaintance  with 
the  early  American  history.  I  have  had  ample  opportunity  of  proving 
the  merits  of  his  version  of  Ixtlilxochitl,  and  am  happy  to  bear  my 
testimony  to  the  fidelity  and  elegance  with  which  it  is  executed. 


NOTE. — It  was  my  intention  to  conclude  this  Introductory  portion 
of  the  work  with  an  inquiry  into  the  Origin  of  the  Mexican  Civiliza 
tion.  "  But  the  general  question  of  the  origin  of  the  inhabitants  of 
a  continent,"  says  Humboldt,  "  is  beyond  the  limits  prescribed  to 
history;  perhaps  it  is  not  even  a  philosophic  question."  "For  the 
majority  of  readers,"  says  Livy,  "  the  origin  and  remote  antiquities 
of  a  nation  can  have  comparatively  little  interest."  The  criticism  of 
these  great  writers  is  just  and  pertinent ;  and,  on  further  consideration, 
I  have  thrown  the  observations  on  this  topic,  prepared  with  some  care, 
into  the  Appendix  (Part  i) ;  to  which  those  who  feel  sufficient  curiosity 
in  the  discussion  can  turn  before  entering  on  the  narrative  of  the 
Conquest. 


BOOK  SECOND, 

DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 


18*  (209) 


BOOK  II. 

DISCOVERY  OF   MEXICO. 


CHAPTER    I. 

SPAIN    UNDER    CHARLES    V. PROGRESS  OF    DISCOVERY.— 

COLONIAL     POLICY. CONQUEST     OF     CUBA. EXPEDI 
TIONS    TO    YUCATAN. 

I5I6-I5I8. 

IN  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Spain 
occupied  perhaps  the  most  prominent  position  on  the 
theatre  of  Europe,  The  numerous  states  into  which 
she  had  been  so  long  divided  were  consolidated  into 
one  monarchy.  The  Moslem  crescent,  after  reigning 
there  for  eight  centuries,  was  no  longer  seen  on  her 
borders.  The  authority  of  the  crown  did  not,  as  in 
later  times,  overshadow  the  inferior  orders  of  the  state. 
The  people  enjoyed  the  inestimable  privilege  of  polit 
ical  representation,  and  exercised  it  with  manly  inde 
pendence.  The  nation  at  large  could  boast  as  great  a 
degree  of  constitutional  freedom  as  any  other,  at  that 
time,  in  Christendom.  Under  a  system  of  salutary 
laws  and  an  equitable  administration,  domestic  tran 
quillity  was  secured,  public  credit  established,  trade, 
manufactures,  and  even  the  more  elegant  arts,  began 
to  flourish ;  while  a  higher  education  called  forth  the 

(211) 


212  DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 

first  blossoms  of  that  literature  which  was  to  ripen  into 
so  rich  a  harvest  before  the  close  of  the  century.  Arms 
abroad  kept  pace  with  arts  at  home.  Spain  found  her 
empire  suddenly  enlarged  by  important  acquisitions 
both  in  Europe  and  Africa,  while  a  New  World  beyond 
the  waters  poured  into  her  lap  treasures  of  countless 
wealth  and  opened  an  unbounded  field  for  honorable 
enterprise. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  kingdom  at  the  close 
of  the  long  and  glorious  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella,  when,  on  the  23d  of  January,  1516,  the  sceptre 
passed  into  the  hands  of  their  daughter  Joanna,  or 
rather  their  grandson,  Charles  the  Fifth,  who  alone 
ruled  the  monarchy  during  the  long  and  imbecile 
existence  of  his  unfortunate  mother.  During  the  two 
years  following  Ferdinand's  death,  the  regency,  in  the 
absence'  of  Charles,  was  held  by  Cardinal  Ximenes, 
a  man  whose  intrepidity,  extraordinary  talents,  and 
capacity  for  great  enterprises  were  accompanied  by  a 
haughty  spirit,  which  made  him  too  indifferent  as  to 
the  means  of  their  execution.  His  administration, 
therefore,  notwithstanding  the  uprightness  of  his  in 
tentions,  was,  from  his  total  disregard  of '  forms,  unfa 
vorable  to  constitutional  liberty ;  for  respect  for  forms 
is  an  essential  element  of  freedom.  With  all  his  faults, 
however,  Ximenes  was  a  Spaniard  ;  and  the  object  he 
had  at  heart  was  the  good  of  his  country. 

It  was  otherwise  on  the  arrival  of  Charles,  who,  after 
a  long  absence,  came  as  a  foreigner  into  the  land  of 
his  fathers.  (November,  1517.)  His  manners,  sym 
pathies,  even  his  language,  were  foreign,  for  he  spoke 
the  Castilian  with  difficulty.  He  knew  little  of  his 


SPAIN    UNDER    CHARLES   V.  213 

native  country,  of  the  character  of  the  people  or  their 
institutions.  He  seemed  to  care  still  less  for  them ; 
while  his  natural  reserve  precluded  that  freedom  of 
communication  which  might  have  counteracted,  to 
some  extent,  at  least,  the  errors  of  education.  In 
everything,  in  short,  he  was  a  foreigner,  and  resigned 
himself  to  the  direction  of  his  Flemish  counsellors 
with  a  docility  that  gave  little  augury  of  his  future 
greatness. 

On  his  entrance  into  Castile,  the  young  monarch 
was  accompanied  by  a  swarm  of  courtly  sycophants, 
who  settled,  like  locusts,  on  every  place  of  profit  and 
honor  throughout  the  kingdom.  A  Fleming  was  made 
grand  chancellor  of  Castile ;  another  Fleming  was 
placed  in  the  archiepiscopal  see  of  Toledo.  They 
even  ventured  to  profane  the  sanctity  of  the  cortes, 
by  intruding  themselves  on  its  deliberations.  Yet  that 
body  did  not  tamely  submit  to  these  usurpations,  but 
gave  vent  to  its  indignation  in  tones  becoming  the 
representatives  of  a  free  people.1 

1  The  following  passage — one  among  many — from  that  faithful 
mirror  of  the  times,  Peter  Martyr's  correspondence,  does  ample  jus 
tice  to  the  intemperance,  avarice,  and  intolerable  arrogance  of  the 
Flemings.  The  testimony  is  worth  the  more,  as  coming  from  one  who, 
though  resident  in  Spain,  was  not  a  Spaniard.  "  Crumenas  auro 
fulcire  inhiant ;  huic  uni  studio  invigilant.  Nee  detrectat  juvenis  Rex. 
Farcit  quacunque  posse  datur ;  non  satiat  tamen.  Quae  qualisve  sit 
gens  haec,  depingere  adhuc  nescio.  Insufflat  vulgus  hie  in  omne 
genus  hominum  non  arctoum.  Minores  faciunt  Hispanos,  quam  si 
nati  essent  inter  eorum  cloacas.  Rugiunt  jam  Hispani,  labra  mordent, 
submurmurant  taciti,  fatorum  vices  tales  esse  conqueruntur,  quod  ipsi 
domitores  regnorum  ita  floccifiant  ab  his,  quorum  Deus  unicus  (sub 
rege  temperato)  Bacchus  est  cum  Citherea."  Opus  Epistolarum 
(Amstelodami,  1610),  ep.  608. 


214  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

The  deportment  of  Charles,  so  different  from  that 
to  which  the  Spaniards  had  been  accustomed  under 
the  benign  administration  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella, 
closed  all  hearts  against  him ;  and,  as  his  character 
came  to  be  understood,  instead  of  the  spontaneous 
outpourings  of  loyalty  which  usually  greet  the  acces 
sion  of  a  new  and  youthful  sovereign,  he  was  every 
where  encountered  by  opposition  and  disgust.  In 
Castile,  and  afterwards  in  Aragon,  Catalonia,  and 
Valencia,  the  commons  hesitated  to  confer  on  him  the 
title  of  King  during  the  lifetime  of  his  mother ;  and, 
though  they  eventually  yielded  this  point,  and  associ 
ated  his  name  with  hers  in  the  sovereignty,  yet  they 
reluctantly  granted  the  supplies  he  demanded,  and, 
when  they  did  so,  watched  over  their  appropriation 
with  a  vigilance  which  left  little  to  gratify  the  cupid 
ity  of  the  Flemings.  The  language  of  the  legislature 
on  these  occasions,  though  temperate  and  respectful, 
breathes  a  spirit  of  resolute  independence  not  to  be 
found,  probably,  on  the  parliamentary  records  of  any 
other  nation  at  that  period.  No  wonder  that  Charles 
should  have  early  imbibed  a  disgust  for  these  popular 
assemblies, — the  only  bodies  whence  truths  so  unpal 
atable  could  find  their  way  to  the  ears  of  the  sover 
eign  ! 2  Unfortunately,  they  had  no  influence  on  his 
conduct ;  till  the  discontent,  long  allowed  to  fester  in 

2  Yet  the  nobles  were  not  all  backward  in  manifesting  their  disgust. 
When  Charles  would  have  conferred  the  famous  Burgundian  order  of 
the  Golden  Fleece  on  the  Count  of  Benavente,  that  lord  refused  it, 
proudly  telling  him,  "  I  am  aCastilian.  I  desire  no  honors  but  those 
of  my  own  country,  in  my  opinion  quite  as  good  as — indeed,  better 
than — those  of  any  other."  Sandoval,  Historia  de  la  Vida  y  Hechos 
del  Emperador  Cdrlos  V.  (Amberes,  1681),  torn.  i.  p.  103. 


SPAIN    UNDER    CHARLES   V. 


215 


secret,  broke  out  in  that  sad  war  of  the  comunidadcs, 
which  shook  the  state  to  its  foundations  and  ended  in 
the  subversion  of  its  liberties.* 

The  same  pestilent  foreign  influence  was  felt,  though 
much  less  sensibly,  in  the  colonial  administration. 
This  had  been  placed,  in  the  preceding  reign,  under 
the  immediate  charge  of  the  two  great  tribunals,  the 
Council  of  the  Indies,  and  the  Casa  dc  Contratacion, 
or  India  House,  at  Seville.  It  was  their  business  to 


*  [The  tone  of  the  preceding  paragraphs  is  that  of  the  Spanish 
chroniclers  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  shows  how  the  author, 
despite  his  natural  candor  and  impartiality  of  mind,  had  acquired  in 
sensibly  the  habit  of  considering  questions  that  affected  Spain  from 
the  national  point  of  view  of  the  class  of  writers  with  whom  his  studies 
had  made  him  most  familiar.  Spain  is  called  the  "  native  country" 
of  Charles  V.,  and  the  "  land  of  his  fathers,"  although,  as  hardly  any 
reader  will  need  to  be  reminded,  he  was  born  in  the  Netherlands  and 
was  of  Spanish  descent  only  on  the  maternal  side.  The  term  "  for 
eigner"  is  applied  to  him  as  if  it  indicated  some  vicious  trait  in  his 
nature ;  and  the  training  which  he  had  received  as  the  heir  to  the 
Austro-Burgundian  dominions  is  spoken  of  as  erroneous,  merely 
because  it  had  not  fitted  him  for  a  different  position.  His  manners 
are  contrasted  with  those  of  native  Spanish  sovereigns,  as  if  wanting 
in  graciousness  and  affability ;  yet  the  Spaniards,  who  alone  ever 
made  this  complaint,  recognized  their  own  ideal  of  royal  demeanor 
in  that  of  the  taciturn  and  phlegmatic  Philip  II.  In  like  manner, 
Charles  is  supposed  to  have  made  his  first  acquaintance  with  free  in 
stitutions  on  his  arrival  in  Spain  ;  whereas  he  had  been  brought  up  in 
a  country  where  the  power  of  the  sovereign  was  perhaps  more  closely 
restricted  by  the  chartered  rights  and  immunities  of  the  subject  than 
was  the  case  in  any  other  part  of  Europe.  That  the  union  of  Spain 
and  the  Netherlands  was  a  most  incongruous  one,  disastrous  to  the 
freedom,  the  independence,  and  the  development  of  both  countries, 
is  undeniable  ;  but  it  was  not  Charles's  early  partiality  for  the  one,  but 
his  successor's  far  stronger  partiality  for  the  other,  which  rendered  the 
incompatibility  apparent  and  led  to  a  rupture  of  the  connection. — ED.] 


2l6  DISCOVERY   OP    MEXICO. 

furthei  the  progress  of  discovery,  watch  over  the  infant 
settlements,  and  adjust  the  disputes  which  grew  up  in 
them.  But  the  licenses  granted  to  private  adventurers 
did  more  for  the  cause  of  discovery  than  the  patronage 
of  the  crown  or  its  officers.  The  long  peace,  enjoyed 
with  slight  interruption  by  Spain  in  the  early  part  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  was  most  auspicious  for  this ; 
and  the  restless  cavalier,  who  could  no  longer  win 
laurels  on  the  fields  of  Africa  or  Europe,  turned  with 
eagerness  to  the  brilliant  career  opened  to  him  beyond 
the  ocean. 

It  is  difficult  for  those  of  our  time,  as  familiar  from 
childhood  with  the  most  remote  places  on  the  globe  as 
with  those  in  their  own  neighborhood,  to  picture  to 
themselves  the  feelings  of  the  men  who  lived  in  the 
sixteenth  century.  The  dread  mystery  which  had  so 
long  hung  over  the  great  deep  had,  indeed,  been  re 
moved.  It  was  no  longer  beset  with  the  same  unde 
fined  horrors  as  when  Columbus  launched  his  bold  bark 
on  its  dark  and  unknown  waters.  A  new  and  glori 
ous  world  had  been  thrown  open.  But  as  to  the  pre 
cise  spot  where  that  world  lay,  its  extent,-  its  history, 
whether  it  were  island  or  continent, — of  all  this  they 
had  very  vague  and  confused  conceptions.  Many,  in 
their  ignorance,  blindly  adopted  the  erroneous  con 
clusion  into  which  the  great  Admiral  had  been  led  by 
his  superior  science, — that  the  new  countries  were  a 
part  of  Asia ;  and,  as  the  mariner  wandered  among  the 
Bahamas,  or  steered  his  caravel  across  the  Caribbean 
Seas,  he  fancied  he  was  inhaling  the  rich  odors  of  the 
spice-islands  in  the  Indian  Ocean.  Thus  every  fresh 
discovery,  interpreted  by  this  previous  delusion,  served 


COLONIZATION.  217 

to  confirm  him  in  his  error,  or,  at  least,  to  fill  his  mind 
with  new  perplexities. 

The  career  thus  thrown  open  had  all  the  fascinations 
of  a  desperate  hazard,  on  which  the  adventurer  staked 
all  his  hopes  of  fortune,  fame,  and  life  itself.  It  was 
not  often,  indeed,  that  he  won  the  rich  prize  which  he 
most  coveted ;  but  then  he  was  sure  to  win  the  meed 
of  glory,  scarcely  less  dear  to  his  chivalrous  spirit; 
and,  if  he  survived  to  return  to  his  home,  he  had  won 
derful  stories  to  recount,  of  perilous  chances  among 
the  strange  people  he  had  visited,  and  the  burning 
climes  whose  rank  fertility  and  magnificence  of  vege 
tation  so  far  surpassed  anything  he  had  witnessed  in 
his  own.  These  reports  added  fresh  fuel  to  imagina 
tions  already  warmed  by  the  study  of  those  tales  of 
chivalry  which  formed  the  favorite  reading  of  the 
Spaniards  at  that  period.  Thus  romance  and  reality 
acted  on  each  other,  and  the  soul  of  the  Spaniard  was 
exalted  to  that  pitch  of  enthusiasm  which  enabled  him 
to  encounter  the  terrible  trials  that  lay  in  the  path  of 
the  discoverer.  Indeed,  the  life  of  the  cavalier  of  that 
day  was  romance  put  into  action.  The  story  of  his 
adventures  in  the  New  World  forms  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  pages  in  the  history  of  man. 

Under  this  chivalrous  spirit  of  enterprise,  the  pro 
gress  of  discovery  had  extended,  by  the  beginning  of 
Charles  the  Fifth's  reign,  from  the  Bay  of  Honduras, 
along  the  winding  shores  of  Darien,  and  the  South 
American  continent,  to  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  The 
mighty  barrier  of  the  Isthmus  had  been  climbed,  and 
the  Pacific  descried,  by  Nunez  de  Balboa,  second  only 
to  Columbus  in  this  valiant  band  of  "  ocean  chivalry." 
VOL.  I. — K  19 


2i8  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

The  Bahamas  and  Caribbee  Islands  had  been  explored, 
as  well  as  the  Peninsula  of  Florida  on  the  northern 
continent.  This  latter  point  had  been  reached  by 
Sebastian  Cabot  in  his  descent  along  the  coast  from 
Labrador,  in  1497.  So  that  before  1518,  the  period 
when  our  narrative  begins,  the  eastern  borders  of  both 
the  great  continents  had  been  surveyed  through  nearly 
their  whole  extent.  The  shores  of  the  great  Mexican 
Gulf,  however,  sweeping  with  a  wide  circuit  far  into 
the  interior,  remained  still  concealed,  with  the  rich 
realms  that  lay  beyond,  from  the  eye  of  the  navigator. 
The  time  had  now  come  for  their  discovery. 

The  business  of  colonization  had  kept  pace  with  that 
of  discovery.  In  several  of  the  islands,  and  in  various 
parts  of  Terra  Firma,  and  in  Darien,  settlements  had 
been  established,  under  the  control  of  governors  who 
affected  the  state  and  authority  of  viceroys.  Grants 
of  land  were  assigned  to  the  colonists,  on  which  they 
raised  the  natural  products  of  the  soil,  but  gave  still 
more  attention  to  the  sugar-cane,  imported  from  the 
Canaries.  Sugar,  indeed,  together  with  the  beautiful 
dye-woods  of  the  country  and  the  precious  metals, 
formed  almost  the  only  articles  of  export  in  the  in 
fancy  of  the  colonies,  which  had  not  yet  introduced 
those  other  staples  of  the  West  Indian  commerce  which 
in  our  day  constitute  its  principal  wealth.  Yet  the 
precious  metals,  painfully  gleaned  from  a  few  scanty 
sources,  would  have  made  poor  returns,  but  for  the 
gratuitous  labor  of  the  Indians. 

The  cruel  system  of  repartimientos ,  or  distribution 
of  the  Indians  as  slaves  among  the  conquerors,  had 
been  suppressed  by  Isabella.  Although  subsequently 


DISCOVERY   OF   CUBA. 


219 


countenanced  by  the  government,  it  was  under  the 
most  careful  limitations.  But  it  is  impossible  to  li 
cense  crime  by  halves, — to  authorize  injustice  at  all, 
and  hope  to  regulate  the  measure  of  it.  The  eloquent 
remonstrances  of  the  Dominicans, — who  devoted  them 
selves  to  the  good  work  of  conversion  in  the  New 
World  with  the  same  zeal  that  they  showed  foi  perse 
cution  in  the  Old, — but,  above  all,  those  of  Las  Casas, 
induced  the  regent,  Ximenes,  to  send  out  a  commission 
with  full  powers  to  inquire  into  the  alleged  grievances 
and  to  redress  them.  It  had  authority,  moreover,  to 
investigate  the  conduct  of  the  civil  officers,  and  to 
reform  any  abuses  in  their  administration.  This  ex 
traordinary  commission  consisted  of  three  Hieronymite 
friars  and  an  eminent  jurist,  all  men  of  learning  and 
unblemished  piety. 

They  conducted  the  inquiry  in  a  very  dispassionate 
manner,  but,  after  long  deliberation,  came  to  a  con 
clusion  most  unfavorable  to  the  demands  of  Las  Casas, 
who  insisted  on  the  entire  freedom  of  the  natives.  This 
conclusion  they  justified  on  the  grounds  that  the  In 
dians  would  not  labor  without  compulsion,  and  that, 
unless  they  labored,  they  could  not  be  brought  into 
communication  with  the  whites,  nor  be  converted  to 
Christianity.  Whatever  we  may  think  of  this  argu 
ment,  it  was  doubtless  urged  with  sincerity  by  its 
advocates,  whose  conduct  through  their  whole  admin 
istration  places  their  motives  above  suspicion.  They 
accompanied  it  with  many  careful  provisions  for  the 
protection  of  the  natives.  But  in  vain.  The  simple 
people,  accustomed  all  their  days  to  a  life  of  indolence 
and  ease,  sank  tinder  the  oppressions  of  their  masters, 


220  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

and  the  population  wasted  away  with  even  more  fright 
ful  rapidity  than  did  the  aborigines  in  our  own  country 
under  the  operation  of  other  causes.  It  is  not  neces 
sary  to  pursue  these  details  further,  into  which  I  have 
been  led  by  the  desire  to  put  the  reader  in  posses 
sion  of  the  general  policy  and  state  of  affairs  in  the 
New  World  at  the  period  when  the  present  narrative 
begins.3 

Of  the  islands,  Cuba  was  the  second  discovered; 
but  no  attempt  had  been  made  to  plant  a  colony  there 
during  the  lifetime  of  Columbus,  who,  indeed,  after 
skirting  the  whole  extent  of  its  southern  coast,  died  in 
the  conviction  that  it  was  part  of  the  continent.4  At 
length,  in  1511,  Diego,  the  son  and  successor  of  the 
"Admiral,"  who  still  maintained  the  seat  of  govern 
ment  in  Hispaniola,  finding  the  mines  much  exhausted 
there,  proposed  to  occupy  the  neighboring  island  of 
Cuba,  or  Fernandina,  as  it  was  called  in  compliment 
to  the  Spanish  monarch.5  He  prepared  a  small  force 

3  I  will  take  the  liberty  to  refer  the  reader  who  is  desirous  of  being 
more  minutely  acquainted  with  the  Spanish  colonial  administration 
and  the  state  of  discovery  previous  to  Charles  V.,  to  the  "  History 
of  the  Reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella"  (Part  2,  ch.  9,  26),  where 
the  subject  is  treated  in  extenso.^ 

•*  See  the  curious  document  attesting  this,  and  drawn  up  by  order 
of  Columbus,  ap.  Navarrete,  Coleccion  de  los  Viages  y  de  Descubri- 
mientos  (Madrid,  1825),  torn.  ii.  Col.  Dip.,  No.  76. 

5  The  island  was  originally  called  by  Columbus  Juana,  in  honor  of 


*  [All  the  documents  relative  to  the  commission  sent  out  by 
Ximenes,  including  many  reports  from  the  commissioners,  have 
been  printed  in  the  Col.  de  Doc.  ine"d.  relatives  al  Descubrimiento, 
Conquista  y  Colonizacion  de  las  Posesiones  espanolas  en  America  y 
Oceania,  torn.  i. — ED.] 


CONQUEST   OF   CUBA.  221 

for  the  conquest,  which  he  placed  under  the  command 
of  Don  Diego  Velasquez ;  a  man  described  by  a  con 
temporary  as  "possessed  of  considerable  experience  in 
military  affairs,  having  served  seventeen  years  in  the 
European  wars;  as  honest,  illustrious  by  his  lineage 
and  reputation,  covetous  of  glory,  and  somewhat  more 
covetous  of  wealth. ' ' 6  The  portrait  was  sketched  by 
no  unfriendly  hand. 

Velasquez,  or  rather  his  lieutenant,  Narvaez,  who 
took  the  office  on  himself  of  scouring  the  country,  met 
with  no  serious  opposition  from  the  inhabitants,  who 
were  of  the  same  family  with  the  effeminate  natives  of 
Hispaniola.  The  conquest,  through  the  merciful  inter 
position  of  Las  Casas,  "the  protector  of  the  Indians," 
who  accompanied  the  army  in  its  march,  was  effected 
without  much  bloodshed.  One  chief,  indeed,  named 
Hatuey,  having  fled  originally  from  St.  Domingo  to 
escape  the  oppression  of  its  invaders,  made  a  desperate 
resistance,  for  which  he  was  condemned  by  Velasquez 
to  be  burned  alive.  It  was  he  who  made  that  memora 
ble  reply,  more  eloquent  than  a  volume  of  invective. 
When  urged  at  the  stake  to  embrace  Christianity,  that 
his  soul  might  find  admission  into  heaven,  he  inquired 
if  the  white  men  would  go  there.  On  being  answered 
in  the  affirmative,  he  exclaimed,  "Then  I  will  not  be 

Prince  John,  heir  to  the  Castilian  crown.  After  his  death  it  received 
the  name  of  Fernandina,  at  the  king's  desire.  The  Indian  name  has 
survived  both.  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  Descrip.,  cap.  6. 

6  "  Erat  Didacus,  ut  hoc  in  loco  de  eo  semel  tantum  dicamus,  vete- 
ranus  miles,  rei  militaris  gnarus,  quippe  qui  septem  et  decem  annos 
in  Hispania  militiam  exercitus  fuerat,  homo  probus,  opibus,  genere 
et  fama  clarus,  honoris  cupidus,  pecuniar  aliquanto  cupidior."  De 
Rebus  gestis  Ferdinandi  Cortesii,  MS. 


222  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

a  Christian ;  for  I  would  not  go  again  to  a  place  where 
I  must  find  men  so  cruel !"  7 

After  the  conquest,  Velasquez,  now  appointed  gov 
ernor,  diligently  occupied  himself  with  measures  for 
promoting  the  prosperity  of  the  island.  He  formed  a 
number  of  settlements,  bearing  the  same  names  with 
the  modern  towns,  and  made  St.  Jago,  on  the  south 
east  corner,  the  seat  of  government.8  He  invited 
settlers  by  liberal  grants  of  land  and  slaves.  He  en 
couraged  them  to  cultivate  the  soil,  and  gave  particular 
attention  to  the  sugar-cane,  so  profitable  an  article  of 
commerce  in  later  times.  He  was,  above  all,  intent 
on  working  the  gold-mines,  which  promised  better  re 
turns  than  those  in  Hispaniola.  The  affairs  of  his 
government  did  not  prevent  him,  meanwhile,  from 
casting  many  a  wistful  glance  at  the  discoveries  going 
forward  on  the  continent,  and  he  longed  for  an  oppor 
tunity  to  embark  in  these  golden  adventures  himself. 
Fortune  gave  him  the  occasion  he  desired. 

An  hidalgo  of  Cuba,  named  Hernandez  de  Cordova, 
sailed  with  three  vessels  on  an  expedition  to  one  of  the 
neighboring  Bahama  Islands,  in  quest  of  Indian  slaves. 
(Februarys,  1517.)  He  encountered  a  succession  of 
heavy  gales  which  drove  him  far  out  of  his  course,  and 

7  The  story  is  told  by  Las  Casas  in  his  appalling  record  of  the  cruel 
ties  of  his  countrymen  in  the  New  World,  which  charity — and  com 
mon  sense — may  excuse  us  for  believing  the  good  father  has  greatly 
overcharged.     Brevissima  Relacion  de  la  Destruycion  de  las  Indias 
(Venetia,  1643),  p.  28. 

8  Among  the  most  ancient  of  these  establishments  we  find  the 
Havana,  Puerto  del  Principe,  Trinidad,  St.  Salvador,  and  Matanzas, 
or  the  Slaughter,  so  called  from  a  massacre  of  the  Spaniards  there 
by  the  Indians.     Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  8. 


EXPEDITIONS    TO     YUCATAN.  223 

at  the  end  of  three  weeks  he  found  himself  on  a  strange 
and  unknown  coast.  On  landing  and  asking  the  name 
of  the  country,  he  was  answered  by  the  natives,  ' '  Tec- 
tetan"  meaning,  "I  do  not  understand  you," — but 
which  the  Spaniards,  misinterpreting  into  the  name  of 
the  place,  easily  corrupted  into  Yucatan.  Some  writers 
give  a  different  etymology.9  Such  mistakes,  however, 
were  not  uncommon  with  the  early  discoverers,  and 
have  been  the  origin  of  many  a  name  on  the  American 
continent.10 

Cordova  had  landed  on  the  northeastern  end  of  the 
peninsula,  at  Cape  Catoche.  He  was  astonished  at  the 
size  and  solid  materials  of  the  buildings,  constructed  of 
stone  and  lime,  so  different  from  the  frail  tenements  of 
reeds  and  rushes  which  formed  the  habitations  of  the 
islanders.  He  was  struck,  also,  with  the  higher  culti 
vation  of  the  soil,  and  with  the  delicate  texture  of  the 
cotton  garments  and  gold  ornaments  of  the  natives. 
Everything  indicated  a  civilization  far  superior  to  any 
thing  he  had  before  witnessed  in  the  New  World.  He 
saw  the  evidence  of  a  different  race,  moreover,  in  the 
warlike  spirit  of  the  people.  Rumors  of  the  Spaniards 
had,  perhaps,  preceded  them,  as  they  were  repeatedly 

9  Gomara,  Historia  de  las  Indias,  cap.  52,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. — Ber- 
nal  Diaz  says  the  word  came  from  the  vegetable  yuca,  and  tale  the 
name  for  a  hillock  in  which  it  is  planted.     (Hist,  de  la   Conquista, 
cap.  6.)     M.  Waldeck  finds  a  much  more  plausible  derivation  in  the 
Indian  word  Ouyouckatan,  "  listen  to  what  they  say."     Voyage  pitto- 
resque,  p.  25. 

10  Two  navigators,  Solis  and  Pinzon,  had  descried  the  coast  as  far 
back  as  1506,  according  to  Herrera,  though  they  had  not  taken  pos 
session  of  it.     (Hist,  general,  dec.  i,  lib.  6,  cap.  17.)     It  is,  indeed, 
remarkable  it  should  so  long  have  eluded  discovery,  considering  that 
it  is  but  two  degrees  distant  from  Cuba. 


224  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

asked  if  they  came  from  the  east ;  and  wherever  they 
landed  they  were  met  with  the  most  deadly  hostility. 
Cordova  himself,  in  one  of  his  skirmishes  with  the 
Indians,  received  more  than  a  dozen  wounds,  and  one 
only  of  his  party  escaped  unhurt.  At  length,  when 
he  had  coasted  the  peninsula  as  far  as  Campeachy,  he 
returned  to  Cuba,  which  he  reached  after  an  absence 
of  several  months,  having  suffered  all  the  extremities  of 
ill  which  these  pioneers  of  the  ocean  were  sometimes 
called  to  endure,  and  which  none  but  the  most,  coura 
geous  spirit  could  have  survived.  As  it  was,  half  the 
original  number,  consisting  of  one  hundred  and  ten 
men,  perished,  including  their  brave  commander,  who 
died  soon  after  his  return.  The  reports  he  had  brought 
back  of  the  country,  and,  still  more,  the  specimens  of 
curiously  wrought  gold,  convinced  Velasquez  of  the 
importance  of  this  discovery,  and  he  prepared  with  all 
despatch  to  avail  himself  of  it." 

He  accordingly  fitted  out  a  little  squadron  of  four 
vessels  for  the  newly-discovered  lands,  and  placed  it 
under  the  command  of  his  nephew,  Juan  de  Grijalva,  a 
man  on  whose  probity,  prudence,  and  attachment  to 
himself  he  knew  he  could  rely.  The  fleet  left  the  port 
of  St.  Jago  de  Cuba,  May  i,  15 18.12  It  took  the  course 

11  Oviedo,  General  y  natural   Historia  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  33, 
cap.  i. — De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. — Carta  del  Cabildo  de  Vera  Cruz 
(July  10,  1519),  MS.— Bernal  Diaz  denies  that  the  original  object  of 
the  expedition,  in  which  he  took  part,  was  to  procure  slaves,  though 
Velasquez  had  proposed  it.     (Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  2.)     But  he 
is  contradicted  in  this  by  the  other  contemporary  records  above  cited. 

12  Itinerario  de  la  Isola  de  luchathan,  novamente  ritrovata  per  il 
Signor  Joan  de  Grijalva,  per  il  suo  Capellano,  MS. — The  chaplain's 
word  may  be  taken  for  the  date,  which  is  usually  put  at  the  eighth 
of  April. 


EXPEDITIONS    TO     YUCATAN. 


225 


pursued  by  Cordova,  but  was  driven  somewhat  to  the 
south,  the  first  land  that  it  made  being  the  island  of 
Cozumel.  From  this  quarter  Grijalva  soon  passed  over 
to  the  continent,  and  coasted  the  peninsula,  touching 
at  the  same  place  as  his  predecessor.  Everywhere  he 
was  struck,  like  him,  with  the  evidences  of  a  higher 
civilization,  especially  in  the  architecture ;  as  he  well 
might  be,  since  this  was  the  region  of  those  extraor 
dinary  remains  which  have  become  recently  the  sub 
ject  of  so  much  speculation.  He  was  astonished,  also, 
at  the  sight  of  large  stone  crosses,  evidently  objects  of 
worship,  which  he  met  with  in  various  places.  Re 
minded  by  these  circumstances  of  his  own  country,  he 
gave  the  peninsula  the  name  of  "  New  Spain,"  a  name 
since  appropriated  to  a  much  wider  extent  of  territory.13 

Wherever  Grijalva  landed,  he  experienced  the  same 
unfriendly  reception  as  Cordova;  though  he  suffered 
less,  being  better  prepared  to  meet  it.  In  the  Rio  de 
Tabasco,  or  Grijalva,  as  it  is  often  called,  after  him, 
he  held  an  amicable  conference  with  a  chief  who  gave 
him  a  number  of  gold  plates  fashioned  into  a  sort  of 
armor.  As  he  wound  round  the  Mexican  coast,  one 
of  his  captains,  Pedro  de  Alvarado,  afterwards  famous 
in  the  Conquest,  entered  a  river,  to  which  he,  also, 
left  his  own  name.  In  a  neighboring  stream,  called 
the  Rio  de  Vandcras,  or  "River  of  Banners,"  from 
the  ensigns  displayed  by  the  natives  on  its  borders, 
Grijalva  had  the  first  communication  with  the  Mex 
icans  themselves. 

The  cacique  who  ruled  over  this  province  had  re 
ceived  notice  of  the  approach  of  the  Europeans,  and 

*3  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. — Itinerario  del  Capellano,  MS, 
K* 


226  DISCOVERY    OF   MEXICO. 

of  their  extraordinary  appearance.  He  was  anxious  to 
collect  all  the  information  he  could  respecting  them 
and  the  motives  of  their  visit,  that  he  might  transmit 
them  to  his  master,  the  Aztec  emperor.14  A  friendly 
conference  took  place  between  the  parties  on  shore, 
where  Grijalva  landed  with  all  his  force,  so  as  to  make 
a  suitable  impression  on  the  mind  of  the  barbaric  chief. 
The  interview  lasted  some  hours,  though,  as  there  was 
no  one  on  either  side  to  interpret  the  language  of  the 
other,  they  could  communicate  only  by  signs.  They, 
however,  interchanged  presents,  and  the  Spaniards  had 
the  satisfaction  of  receiving,  for  a  few  worthless  toys 
and  trinkets,  a  rich  treasure  of  jewels,  gold  ornaments 
and  vessels,  of  the  most  fantastic  forms  and  workman 
ship,  's 

Grijalva  now  thought  that  in  this  successful  traffic- 
successful  beyond  his  most  sanguine  expectations — he 
had  accomplished  the  chief  object  of  his  mission.  He 
steadily  refused  the  solicitations  of  his  followers  to 
plant  a  colony  on  the  spot, — a  work  of  no  little  diffi 
culty  in  so  populous  and  powerful  a  country  as  this 
appeared  to  be.  To  this,  indeed,  he  was  inclined,  but 
deemed  it  contrary  to  his  instructions,  which  limited 
him  to  barter  with  the  natives.  He  therefore  despatched 

*4  According  to  the  Spanish  authorities,  the  cacique  was  sent  with 
these  presents  from  the  Mexican  sovereign,  who  had  received  previous 
tidings  of  the  approach  of  the  Spaniards.  I  have  followed  Sahagun, 
who  obtained  his  intelligence  directly  from  the  natives.  Historia  de 
la  Conquista,  MS.,  cap.  2. 

*5  Gomara  has  given  the  per  and  contra  of  this  negotiation,  in  which 
gold  and  jewels  of  the  value  of  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  pesos  de 
oro  were  exchanged  for  glass  beads,  pins,  scissors,  and  other  trinkets 
common  in  an  assorted  cargo  for  savages.  Cronica,  cap.  6. 


EXPEDITIONS    TO     YUCATAN.  227 

Alvarado  in  one  of  the  caravels  back  to  Cuba,  with 
the  treasure  and  such  intelligence  as  he  had  gleaned  of 
the  great  empire  in  the  interior,  and  then  pursued  his 
voyage  along  the  coast. 

He  touched  at  San  Juan  de  Ulua,  and  at  the  Isla  de 
los  Sacrifidos,  so  called  by  him  from  the  bloody  re 
mains  of  human  victims  found  in  one  of  the  temples. 
He  then  held  on  his  course  as  far  as  the  province  of 
Panuco,  where,  finding  some  difficulty  in  doubling  a 
boisterous  headland,  he  returned  on  his  track,  and, 
after  an  absence  of  nearly  six  months,  reached  Cuba  in 
safety.  Grijalva  has  the  glory  of  being  the  first  navi 
gator  who  set  foot  on  the  Mexican  soil  and  opened  an 
intercourse  with  the  Aztecs.16 

On  reaching  the  island,  he  was  surprised  to  learn 
that  another  and  more  formidable  armament  had  been 
fitted  out  to  follow  up  his  own  discoveries,  and  to  find 
orders,  at  the  same  time,  from  the  governor,  couched 
in  no  very  courteous  language,  to  repair  at  once  to  St. 
Jago.  He  was  received  by  that  personage  not  merely 
with  coldness,  but  with  reproaches  for  having  neglected 
so  fair  an  opportunity  of  establishing  a  colony  in  the 
country  he  had  visited.  Velasquez  was  one  of  those 
captious  spirits  who,  when  things  do  not  go  exactly  to 
their  minds,  are  sure  to  shift  the  responsibility  of  the 
failure  from  their  own  shoulders,  where  it  should  lie, 
to  those  of  others.  He  had  an  ungenerous  nature, 
says  an  old  writer,  credulous,  and  easily  moved  to 
suspicion.17  In  the  present  instance  it  was  most 

««  Itinerario  del  Capellano,  MS.— Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. 
*7  "  Hombre  de  terrible  condicion,"  says  Herrera,  citing  the  good 
Bishop  of  Chiapa,  "  para  los  que  le  Servian,  i  aiudaban,  i  que  facil- 


228  DISCOVERY    OF   MEXICO. 

unmerited.  Grijalva,  naturally  a  modest,  unassuming 
person,  had  acted  in  obedience  to  the  instructions  of 
his  commander,  given  before  sailing,  and  had  done 
this  in  opposition  to  his  own  judgment  and  the  impor 
tunities  of  his  followers.  His  conduct  merited  any 
thing  but  censure  from  his  employer.18 

When  Alvarado  had  returned  to  Cuba  with  his  golden 
freight,  and  the  accounts  of  the  rich  empire  of  Mexico 
which  he  had  gathered  from  the  natives,  the  heart  of 
the  governor  swelled  with  rapture  as  he  saw  his  dreams 
of  avarice  and  ambition  so  likely  to  be  realized.  Im 
patient  of  the  long  absence  of  Grijalva,  he  despatched 
a  vessel  in  search  of  him  under  the  command  of  Olid, 
a  cavalier  who  took  an  important  part  afterwards  in  the 
Conquest.  Finally  he  resolved  to  fit  out  another  arma 
ment  on  a  sufficient  scale  to  insure  the  subjugation  of 
the  country. 

He  previously  solicited  authority  for  this  from  the 
Hieronymite  commission  in  St.  Domingo.  He  then 
despatched  his  chaplain  to  Spain  with  the  royal  share 
of  the  gold  brought  from  Mexico,  and  a  full  account 
of  the  intelligence  gleaned  there.  He  set  forth  his 
own  manifold  services,  and  solicited  from  the  court  full 
powers  to  go  on  with  the  conquest  and  colonization  of 
the  newly-discovered  regions.19  Before  receiving  an 

mente  se  indignaba  contra  aquellos."  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  3, 
cap.  10. 

18  At  least,  such  is  the  testimony  of  Las  Casas,  who  knew  both  the 
parties  well,  and  had  often  conversed  with  Grijalva  upon  his  voyage. 
Historia  general  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  113. 

J9  Itinerario  del  Capellano,  MS.— Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  113. — The  most  circumstantial  account  of  Grijalva's 
expedition  is  to  be  found  in  the  Itinerary  of  his  chaplain  above  quoted, 


EXPEDITIONS    TO     YUCATAN. 


229 


answer,  he  began  his  preparations  for  the  armament, 
and,  first  of  all,  endeavored  to  find  a  suitable  person  to 
share  the  expense  of  it  and  to  take  the  command.  Such 
a  person  he  found,  after  some  difficulty  and  delay,  in 
Hernando  Cortes ;  the  man  of  all  others  best  calculated 
to  achieve  this  great  enterprise, — the  last  man  to  whom 
Velasquez,  could  he  have  foreseen  the  results,  would 
have  confided  it. 

The  original  is  lost,  but  an  indifferent  Italian  version  was  published  at 
Venice  in  1522.  A  copy,  which  belonged  to  Ferdinand  Columbus,  is 
still  extant  in  the  library  of  the  great  church  of  Seville.  The  book 
had  become  so  exceedingly  rare,  however,  that  the  historiographer 
Mufioz  made  a  transcript  of  it  with  his  own  hand;  and  from  his 
manuscript  that  in  my  possession  was  taken. 


VOL.  I. 


CHAPTER   II. 

HERNANDO  CORTES.  -  HIS  EARLY  LIFE.  —  -VISITS  THE  NEW 
WORLD.  -  HIS  RESIDENCE  IN  CUBA.  -  DIFFICULTIES 
WITH  VELASQUEZ.  -  ARMADA  INTRUSTED  TO  CORTES. 


HERNANDO  CORTES  was  born  at  Medellin,  a  town  in 
the  southeast  corner  of  Estremadura,1  in  1485.*  He 
came  of  an  ancient  and  respectable  family  ;  and  histo 
rians  have  gratified  the  national  vanity  by  tracing  it  up 
to  the  Lombard  kings,  whose  descendants  crossed  the 
Pyrenees  and  established  themselves  in  Aragon  under 
the  Gothic  monarchy.3  This  royal  genealogy  was  not 

1  [The  house  in  which  he  was  born,  in  the  Calle  de  la  Feria,  was 
preserved  until  the  present  century,  and  many  a  traveller  has  lodged 
there,  desirous,  says  Alaman,  of  sleeping  in  the  mansion  where  the 
hero  was  born.     In  the  year  1809  the  building  was  destroyed  by  the 
French,   and  only  a   few  fragments  of  wall   now  remain  to  com 
memorate  the  birthplace  of  the  Conqueror.     Alaman,  Disertaciones 
historicas,  torn.  ii.  p.  2.] 

2  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  I.  —  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  203.     I   find  no  more  precise  notice  of  the  date  of  his  birth, 
except,  indeed,  by  Pizarro  y  Orellana,  who  tells  us  that  "  Cortes  came 
into  the  world  the  same  day  that  that  infernal  beast,  the  false  heretic 
Luther,  entered  it,  —  by  way  of  compensation,  no  doubt,  since  the 
labors  of  the  one  to  pull  down  the  true  faith  were  counterbalanced  by 
those  of  the  other  to  maintain  and  extend  it"  !     (Varones  ilustres  del 
Nuevo-Mundo  (  Madrid,  1639)^.66.)     But  this  statement  of  the  good 
cavalier,  which  places  the  birth  of  our  hero  in  1483,  looks  rather  more 
like  a  zeal  for  "  the  true  faith"  than  for  historic. 

3  Argensola,  in  particular,  has  bestowed  great  pains  on  ihej>rosaj>ia 

(230) 


HER  NANDO    CORTES,  231 

found  out  till  Cortes  had  acquired  a  name  which  would 
confer  distinction  on  any  descent,  however  noble.  His 
father,  Martin  Cortes  de  Monroy,  was  a  captain  of 
infantry,  in  moderate  circumstances,  but  a  man  of  un 
blemished  honor;  and  both  he  and  his  wife,  Dona 
Catalina  Pizarro  Altamirano,  appear  to  have  been  much 
regarded  for  their  excellent  qualities.4 

In  his  infancy  Cortes  is  said  to  have  had  a  feeble 
constitution,  which  strengthened  as  he  grew  older.5 
At  fourteen,  he  was  sent  to  Salamanca,  as  his  father, 
who  conceived  great  hopes  from  his  quick  and  showy 
parts,  proposed  to  educate  him  for  the  law,  a  profes 
sion  which  held  out  better  inducements  to  the  young 
aspirant  than  any  other.  The  son,  however,  did  not 
conform  to  these  views.  He  showed  little  fondness  for 
books,  and,  after  loitering  away  two  years  at  college, 
returned  home,  to  the  great  chagrin  of  his  parents. 
Yet  his  time  had  not  been  wholly  misspent,  since  he 
had  laid  up  a  little  store  of  Latin,  and  learned  to  write 
good  prose,  and  even  verses  "of  some  estimation, 

of  the  house  of  Cortes ;  which  he  traces  up,  nothing  doubting,  to 
Names  Cortes,  king  of  Lombardy  and  Tuscany.  Anales  de  Aragon 
(Zaragoza,  1630),  pp.  621-625. — Also,  Caro  de  Torres,  Historia  de 
las  Ordenes  militares  (Madrid,  1629),  fol.  103. 

4  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. — Las   Casas,  who  knew  the  father,  bears 
stronger  testimony  to  his  poverty  than  to  his  noble  birth.     "  Un  escu- 
dero,"  he  says  of  him,  "  que  yo  conoci  harto  pobre  y  humilde,  aunque 
cristiano,  viejojy  dizen  que  hidalgo."     Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib. 
3-  cap.  27. 

5  [His  parents  had  cast  lots  to  decide  which  of  the  apostles  should 
be  chosen  as  his  patron  saint.     The  lot  fell  upon  Peter,  which  explains 
the  especial  devotion  which  Cortes  professed,  through  his  whole  life, 
to  that  saint,  to  whose  watchful  care  he  attributed  the  improvement 
in  his  health.     Alaman,  Disertaciones  historicas,  torn.  ii.  p.  4.] 


232 


DISCOVERY    OF   MEXICO. 


considering" — as  an  old  writer  quaintly  remarks — • 
"Cortes  as  the  author."6  He  now  passed  his  days 
in  the  idle,  unprofitable  manner  of  one  who,  too 
wilful  to  be  guided  by  others,  proposes  no  object  to 
himself.  His  buoyant  spirits  were  continually  break 
ing  out  in  troublesome  frolics  and  capricious  humors, 
quite  at  variance  with  the  orderly  habits  of  his  father's 
household.  He  showed  a  particular  inclination  for  the 
military  profession,  or  rather  for  the  life  of  adventure 
to  which  in  those  days  it  was  sure  to  lead.  And  when, 
at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  proposed  to  enroll  himself 
under  the  banners  of  the  Great  Captain,  his  parents, 
probably  thinking  a  life  of  hardship  and  hazard  abroad 
preferable  to  one  of  idleness  at  home,  made  no  objec 
tion. 

The  youthful  cavalier,  however,  hesitated  whether 
to  seek  his  fortunes  under  that  victorious  chief,  or  in 
the  New  World,  where  gold  as  well  as  glory  was  to  be 
won,  and  where  the  very  dangers  had  a  mystery  and 
romance  in  them  inexpressibly  fascinating  to  a  youthful 
fancy.  It  was  in  this  direction,  accordingly,  that  the 
hot  spirits  of  that  day  found  a  vent,  especially  from 
that  part  of  the  country  where  Cortes  lived,  -the  neigh 
borhood  of  Seville  and  Cadiz,  the  focus  of  nautical 
enterprise.  He  decided  on  this  latter  course,  and  an 
opportunity  offered  in  the  splendid  armament  fitted 
out  under  Don  Nicolas  de  Ovando,  successor  to  Co- 

6  Argensola,  Anales,  p.  220. — Las  Casas  and  Bernal  Diaz  both  state 
that  he  was  Bachelor  of  Laws  at  Salamanca.  (Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  ubi  supra. — Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  203.)  The  degree  was 
given  probably  in  later  life,  when  the  University  might  feel  a  pride  in 
claiming  him  among  her  sons. 


THE    NEW  WORLD.  233 

lumbtis.  An  unlucky  accident  defeated  the  purpose  of 
Cortes.7 

As  he  was  scaling  a  high  wall,  one  night,  which  gave 
him  access  to  the  apartment  of  a  lady  with  whom  he 
was  engaged  in  an  intrigue,  the  stones  gave  way,  and 
he  was  thrown  down  with  much  violence  and  buried 
under  the  ruins.  A  severe  contusion,  though  attended 
with  no  other  serious  consequences,  confined  him  to 
his  bed  till  after  the  departure  of  the  fleet.8 

Two  years  longer  he  remained  at  home,  profiting 
little,  as  it  would  seem,  from  the  lesson  he  had  received. 
At  length  he  availed  himself  of  another  opportunity 
presented  by  the  departure  of  a  small  squadron  of  ves 
sels  bound  to  the  Indian  islands.  He  was  nineteen 
years  of  age  when  he  bade  adieu  to  his  native  shores 
in  1504, — the  same  year  in  which  Spain  lost  the  best 
and  greatest  in  her  long  line  of  princes,  Isabella  the 
Catholic. 

The  vessel  in  which  Cortes  sailed  was  commanded 
by  one  Alonso  Quintero.  The  fleet  touched  at  the 
Canaries,  as  was  common  in  the  outward  passage. 
While  the  other  vessels  were  detained  there  taking  in 
supplies,  Quintero  secretly  stole  out  by  night  from  the 
island,  with  the  design  of  reaching  Hispaniola  and 
securing  the  market  before  the  arrival  of  his  com 
panions.  A  furious  storm  which  he  encountered,  how 
ever,  dismasted  his  ship,  and  he  was  obliged  to  return 
to  port  and  refit.  The  convoy  consented  to  wait  for 

7  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  i. 

8  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. — Gomara,  Ibid. — A rgensola  states  the  cause 
of  his  detention  concisely  enough  :  "  Suspendio  el  viaje,  por  enamo- 
rado  y  for  quartanario."     Anales,  p.  621. 

2O* 


234 


DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 


their  unworthy  partner,  and  after  a  short  detention 
they  all  sailed  in  company  again.  But  the  faithless 
Quintero,  as  they  drew  near  the  Islands,  availed  him 
self  once  more  of  the  darkness  of  the  night,  to  leave 
the  squadron  with  the  same  purpose  as  before.  Un 
luckily  for  him,  he  met  with  a  succession  of  heavy 
gales  and  head- winds,  which  drove  him  from  his  course, 
and  he  wholly  lost  his  reckoning.  For  many  days  the 
vessel  was  tossed  about,  and  all  on  board  were  filled 
with  apprehensions,  and  no  little  indignation  against 
the  author  of  their  calamities.  At  length  they  were 
cheered  one  morning  with  the  sight  of  a  white  dove, 
which,  wearied  by  its  flight,  lighted  on  the  topmast. 
The  biographers  of  Cortes  speak  of  it  as  a  miracle.9 
Fortunately  it  was  no  miracle,  but  a  very  natural  occur 
rence,  showing  incontestably  that  they  were  near  land. 
In  a  short  time,  by  taking  the  direction  of  the  bird's 
flight,  they  reached  the  island  of  Hispaniola ;  and,  on 
coming  into  port,  the  worthy  master  had  the  satis 
faction  to  find  his  companions  arrived  before  him,  and 
their  cargoes  already  sold.10 

Immediately  on  landing,  Cortes  repaired  to  the  house 
of  the  governor,  to  whom  he  had  been '  personally 
known  in  Spain.  Ovando  was  absent  on  an  expedition 
into  the  interior,  but  the  young  man  was  kindly  received 
by  the  secretary,  who  assured  him  there  would  be  no 

9  Some  thought  it  was  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  form  of  this  dove. 
"  Sanctum  esse  Spiritum,  qui,  in  illius  alitis  specie,  ut  moastos  et  afflic- 
tos  solaretur,  venire  erat  dignatus"  (De  Rebus  gestis,  MS.) ;  a  conjec 
ture  which  seems  very  reasonable  to  Pizarro  y  Orellana,  since  the  ex 
pedition  was  to  "  redound  so  much  to  the  spread  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  and  the  Castilian  monarchy"  !     Varones  ilustres,  p.  70. 

10  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  2. 


SOJOURN  IN   CUBA.  235 

doubt  of  his  obtaining  a  liberal  grant  of  land  to  settle 
on.  "But  I  came  to  get  gold,"  replied  Cortes,  "not 
to  till  the  soil,  like  a  peasant." 

On  the  governor's  return,  Cortes  consented  to  give 
tip  his  roving  thoughts,  at  least  for  a  time,  as  the  other 
labored  to  convince  him  that  he  would  be  more  likely 
to  realize  his  wishes  from  the  slow,  indeed,  but  sure, 
returns  of  husbandry,  where  the  soil  and  the  laborers 
were  a  free  gift  to  the  planter,  than  by  taking  his 
chance  in  the  lottery  of  adventure,  in  which  there 
were  so  many  blanks  to  a  prize.  He  accordingly  re 
ceived  a  grant  of  land,  with  a  repartimiento  of  Indians, 
and  was  appointed  notary  of  the  town  or  settlement 
of  Acua.  His  graver  pursuits,  however,  did  not  pre 
vent  his  indulgence  of  the  amorous  propensities  which 
belong  to  the  sunny  clime  where  he  was  born ;  and 
this  frequently  involved  him  in  affairs  of  honor,  from 
which,  though  an  expert  swordsman,  he  carried  away 
scars  that  accompanied  him  to  his  grave."  He  occa 
sionally,  moreover,  found  the  means  of  breaking  up 
the  monotony  of  his  way  of  life  by  engaging  in  the 
military  expeditions  which,  under  the  command  of 
Ovando's  lieutenant,  Diego  Velasquez,  were  employed 
to  suppress  the  insurrections  of  the  natives.  In  this 
school  the  young  adventurer  first  studied  the  wild 
tactics  of  Indian  warfare ;  he  became  familiar  with 
toil  and  danger,  and  with  those  deeds  of  cruelty  which 
have  too  often,  alas !  stained  the  bright  scutcheons 
of  the  Castilian  chivalry  in  the  New  World.  He  was 
only  prevented  by  illness — a  most  fortunate  one,  on  this 
occasion — from  embarking  in  Nicuessa's  expedition, 
11  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  203. 


236  DISCOVERY    OF  MEXICO. 

which  furnished  a  tale  of  woe  not  often  matched  in 
the  annals  of  Spanish  discovery.  Providence  reserved 
him  for  higher  ends. 

At  length,  in  1511,  when  Velasquez  undertook  the 
conquest  of  Cuba,  Cortes  willingly  abandoned  his  quiet 
life  for  the  stirring  scenes  there  opened,  and  took 
part  in  the  expedition.  He  displayed,  throughout  the 
invasion,  an  activity  and  courage  that  won  him  the 
approbation  of  the  commander;  while  his  free  and 
cordial  manners,  his  good  humor  and  lively  sallies  of 
wit,  made  him  the  favorite  of  the  soldiers.  "  He  gave 
little  evidence, ' '  says  a  contemporary,  ' '  of  the  great 
qualities  which  he  afterwards  showed."  It  is  probable 
these  qualities  were  not  known  to  himself;  while  to  a 
common  observer  his  careless  manners  and  jocund 
repartees  might  well  seem  incompatible  with  anything 
serious  or  profound ;  as  the  real  depth  of  the  current 
is  not  suspected  under  the  light  play  and  sunny  spark 
ling  of  the  surface.12 

After  the  reduction  of  the  island,  Cortes  seems  to 
have  been  held  in  great  favor  by  Velasquez,  now  ap 
pointed  its  governor.  According  to  Las  Casas,  he  was 
made  one  of  his  secretaries.13  He  still  retained  the 
same  fondness  for  gallantry,  for  which  his  handsome 
person  afforded  obvious  advantages,  but  which  had 
more  than  once  brought  him  into  trouble  in  earlier  life. 
Among  the  families  who  had  taken  up  their  residence 

12  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  3,  4. — Las  Casas, 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  27. 

J3  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  loc.  cit. — "  Res  omnes  arduas  diffici- 
lesque  per  Cortesium,  quern  in  dies  magis  magisque  amplectebatur, 
Velasquius  agit.  Ex  eo  ducis  favore  et  gratia  magna  Cortesio  invidia 
est  orta."  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. 


DIFFICULTIES   WITH  VELASQUEZ.  237 

in  Cuba  was  one  of  the  name  of  Xuarez,  from  Granada 
in  Old  Spain.  It  consisted  of  a  brother,  and  four 
sisters  remarkable  for  their  beauty.  With  one  of  them, 
named  Catalina,  the  susceptible  heart  of  the  young 
soldier  became  enamored.14  How  far  the  intimacy  was 
carried  is  not  quite  certain.  But  it  appears  he  gave 
his  promise  to  marry  her, — a  promise  which,  when  the 
time  came,  and  reason,  it  may  be,  had  got  the  better 
of  passion,  he  showed  no  alacrity  in  keeping.  He 
resisted,  indeed,  all  remonstrances  to  this  effect,  from 
the  lady's  family,  backed  by  the  governor,  and  some 
what  sharpened,  no  doubt,  in  the  latter  by  the  par 
ticular  interest  he  took  in  one  of  the  fair  sisters,  who 
is  said  not  to  have  repaid  it  with  ingratitude. 

Whether  the  rebuke  of  Velasquez  or  some  other 
cause  of  disgust  rankled  in  the  breast  of  Cortes,  he 
now  became  cold  towards  his  patron,  and  connected 
himself  with  a  disaffected  party  tolerably  numerous  in 
the  island.  They  were  in  the  habit  of  meeting  at  his 
house  and  brooding  over  their  causes  of  discontent, 
chiefly  founded,  it  would  appear,  on  what  they  con 
ceived  an  ill  requital  of  their  services  in  the  distribu 
tion  of  lands  and  offices.  It  may  well  be  imagined 
that  it  could  have  been  no  easy  task  for  the  ruler  of 
one  of  these  colonies,  however  discreet  and  well  in- 
tentioned,  to  satisfy  the  indefinite  cravings  of  specu 
lators  and  adventurers,  who  swarmed,  like  so  many 

*4  Solis  has  found  a  patent  of  nobility  for  this  lady  also, — "  doncella 
noble  y  recatada."  (Historiade  la  Conquista  de  Mejico  (Paris,  1838), 
lib.  i,  cap.  9.)  Las  Casas  treats  her  with  less  ceremony  :  "  Una  her- 
mana  de  un  Juan  Xuarez,  gente  pobre"  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lit/. 
5,  cap.  17. 


238  DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 

famished  harpies,  in  the  track  of  discovery  in  the  New 
World,  's 

The  malecontents  determined  to  lay  their  grievances 
before  the  higher  authorities  in  Hispaniola,  from  whom 
Velasquez  had  received  his  commission.  The  voyage 
was  one  of  some  hazard,  as  it  was  to  be  made  in  an 
open  boat,  across  an  arm  of  the  sea  eighteen  leagues 
wide ;  and  they  fixed  on  Cortes,  with  whose  fearless 
spirit  they  were  well  acquainted,  as  the  fittest  man  to 
undertake  it.  The  conspiracy  got  wind,  and  came  to 
the  governor's  ears  before  the  departure  of  the  envoy, 
whom  he  instantly  caused  to  be  seized,  loaded  with 
fetters,  and  placed  in  strict  confinement.  It  is  even 
said  he  would  have  hung  him,  but  for  the  interposition 
of  his  friends.16  The  fact  is  not  incredible.  The 
governors  of  these  little  territories,  having  entire  con 
trol  over  the  fortunes  of  their  subjects,  enjoyed  an 
authority  far  more  despotic  than  that  of  the  sovereign 
himself.  They  were  generally  men  of  rank  and  per 
sonal  consideration ;  their  distance  from  the  mother- 
country  withdrew  their  conduct  from  searching  scrutiny, 
and,  when  that  did  occur,  they  usually  had  interest  and 
means  of  corruption  at  command  sufficient  to  shield 
them  from  punishment.  The  Spanish  colonial  history, 
in  its  earlier  stages,  affords  striking  instances  of  the 
extraordinary  assumption  and  abuse  of  powers  by  these 
petty  potentates ;  and  the  sad  fate  of  Vasquez  Nunez 
de  Balboa,  the  illustrious  discoverer  of  the  Pacific, 

*5  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  4. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS., 
ubi  supra. — De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. — Memorial  de  Benito  Martinez. 
Capellan  de  D.  Velasquez,  contra  H.  Cortes,  MS. 

16  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  ubi  supra. 


DIFFICULTIES   WITH  VELASQUEZ/         239 

though  the  most  signal,  is  by  no  means  a  solitary  ex 
ample,  that  the  greatest  services  could  be  requited  by 
persecution  and  an  ignominious  death. 

The  governor  of  Cuba,  however,  although  irascible 
and  suspicious  in  his  nature,  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  vindictive,  nor  particularly  cruel.  In  the  present 
instance,  indeed,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether  the 
blame  would  not  be  more  reasonably  charged  on  the 
unfounded  expectations  of  his  followers  than  on  him 
self. 

Cortes  did  not  long  remain  in  durance.  He  con 
trived  to  throw  back  one  of  the  bolts  of  his  fetters,  and, 
after  extricating  his  limbs,  succeeded  in  forcing  open  a 
window  with  the  irons  so  as  to  admit  of  his  escape.  He 
was  lodged  on  the  second  floor  of  the  building,  and 
was  able  to  let  himself  down  to  the  pavement  without 
injury,  and  unobserved.  He  then  made  the  best  of 
his  way  to  a  neighboring  church,  where  he  claimed  the 
privilege  of  sanctuary. 

Velasquez,  though  incensed  at  his  escape,  was  afraid 
to  violate  the  sanctity  of  the  place  by  employing  force. 
But  he  stationed  a  guard  in  the  neighborhood,  with 
orders  to  seize  the  fugitive  if  he  should  forget  himself 
so  far  as  to  leave  the  sanctuary.  In  a  few  days  this 
happened.  As  Cortes  was  carelessly  standing  without 
the  walls  in  front  of  the  building,  an  alguaeil  suddenly 
sprang  on  him  from  behind  and  pinioned  his  arms, 
while  others  rushed  in  and  secured  him.  This  man, 
whose  name  was  Juan  Escudero,  was  afterwards  hung 
by  Cortes  for  some  offence  in  New  Spain.17 

»?  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  loc.  cit. — Memorial  de 
Martinez,  MS. 


240  DISCOVERY    OF  MEXICO. 

The  unlucky  prisoner  was  again  put  in  irons,  and 
carried  on  board  a  vessel  to  sail  the  next  morning  for 
Hispaniola,  there  to  undergo  his  trial.  Fortune  favored 
him  once  more.  He  succeeded,  after  much  difficulty 
and  no  little  pain,  in  passing  his  feet  through  the  rings 
which  shackled  them.  He  then  came  cautiously  on 
deck,  and,  covered  by  the  darkness  of  the  night,  stole 
quietly  down  the  side  of  the  ship  into  a  boat  that  lay 
floating  below.  He  pushed  off  from  the  vessel  with  as 
little  noise  as  possible.  As  he  drew  near  the  shore, 
the  stream  became  rapid  and  turbulent.  He  hesitated 
to  trust  his  boat  to  it,  and,  as  he  was  an  excellent 
swimmer,  prepared  to  breast  it  himself,  and  boldly 
plunged  into  the  water.  The  current  was  strong,  but 
the  arm  of  a  man  struggling  for  life  was  stronger ;  and, 
after  buffeting  the  waves  till  he  was  nearly  exhausted, 
he  succeeded  in  gaining  a  landing;  when  he  sought 
refuge  in  the  same  sanctuary  which  had  protected  him 
before.  The  facility  with  which  Cortes  a  second  time 
effected  his  escape  may  lead  one  to  doubt  the  fidelity 
of  his  guards ;  who  perhaps  looked  on  him  as  the 
victim  of  persecution,  and  felt  the  influence  of  those 
popular  manners  which  seem  to  have  gained  him  friends 
in  every  society  into  which  he  was  thrown.18 

For  some  reason  not  explained, — perhaps  from  policy, 
— he  now  relinquished  his  objections  to  the  marriage 
with  Catalina  Xuarez.  He  thus  secured  the  good 
offices  of  her  family.  Soon  afterwards  the  governor 
himself  relented,  and  became  reconciled  to  his  un- 

18  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  4. — Herrera  tells  a  silly  slory  of  his  being 
unable  to  swim,  and  throwing  himself  on  a  plank,  which,  after  being 
carried  out  to  sea,  was  washed  ashore  with  him  at  flood  tide.  Hist, 
general,  dec.  i,  lib.  9,  cap.  8. 


RECONCILIATION   WITH   VELASQUEZ.        241 

fortunate  enemy.  A  strange  story  is  told  in  connec 
tion  with  this  event.  It  is  said  his  proud  spirit  refused 
to  accept  the  proffers  of  reconciliation  made  him  by 
Velasquez;  and  that  one  evening,  leaving  the  sanctu 
ary,  he  presented  himself  unexpectedly  before  the  latter 
in  his  own  quarters,  when  on  a  military  excursion  at 
some  distance  from  the  capital.  The  governor,  startled 
by  the  sudden  apparition  of  his  enemy  completely  armed 
before  him,  with  some  dismay  inquired  the  meaning  of 
it.  Cortes  answered  by  insisting  on  a  full  explanation 
of  his  previous  conduct.  After  some  hot  discussion 
the  interview  terminated  amicably;  the  parties  em 
braced,  and,  when  a  messenger  arrived  to  announce 
the  escape  of  Cortes,  he  found  him  in  the  apartments 
of  his  Excellency,  where,  having  retired  to  rest,  both 
were  actually  sleeping  in  the  same  bed  !  The  anecdote 
is  repeated  without  distrust  by  more  than  one  biogra 
pher  of  Cortes.19-  It  is  not  very  probable,  however, 
that  a  haughty,  irascible  man  like  Velasquez  should 
have  given  such  uncommon  proofs  of  condescension 
and  familiarity  to  one,  so  far  beneath  him  in  station, 
with  whom  he  had  been  so  recently  in  deadly  feud ; 
nor,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Cortes  should  have  had 
the  silly  temerity  to  brave  the  lion  in  his  den,  where  a 
single  nod  would  have  sent  him  to  the  gibbet, — and 
that,  too,  with  as  little  compunction  or  fear  of  conse 
quences  as  would  have  attended  the  execution  of  an 
Indian  slave.30 

T9  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  4. — "  Cocnat  cubatque  Cortesius  cum 
Velasquio  eodem  in  lecto.  Qui  postero  die  fugce  Cortesii  nuntius 
venerat,  Velasquium  et  Cortesium  juxta  accubantes  intuitus,  mira- 
tur."  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. 

*>  Las  Casas,  who  remembered  Cortes  at  this  time  "  so  poor  anf1 

VOL.  I. — L  21 


242  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

The  reconciliation  with  the  governor,  however 
brought  about,  was  permanent.  Cortes,  though  not 
re-established  in  the  office  of  secretary,  received  a  lib 
eral  repartimiento  of  Indians,  and  an  ample  territory  in 
the  neighborhood  of  St.  Jago,  of  which  he  was  soon 
after  made  alcalde.  He  now  lived  almost  wholly  on  his 
estate,  devoting  himself  to  agriculture  with  more  zeal 
than  formerly.  He  stocked  his  plantation  with  differ 
ent  kinds  of  cattle,  some  of  which  were  first  introduced 
by  him  into  Cuba.21  He  wrought,  also,  the  gold-mines 
which  fell  to  his  share,  and  which  in  this  island  promised 
better  returns  than  those  in  Hispaniola.  By  this  course 
of  industry  he  found  himself,  in  a  few  years,  master  of 
some  two  or  three  thousand  castellanos,  a  large  sum  for 
one  in  his  situation.  "  God,  who  alone  knows  at  what 
cost  of  Indian  lives  it  was  obtained,"  exclaims  Las 
Casas,  "will  take  account  of  it!"22  His  days  glided 
smoothly  away  in  these  tranquil  pursuits,  and  in  the 
society  of  his  beautiful  wife,  who,  however  ineligible 
as  a  connection,  from  the  inferiority  of  her  condition, 
appears  to  have  fulfilled  all  the  relations  of  a  faithful 
and  affectionate  partner.  Indeed,  he  was  often  heard 
to  say  at  this  time,  as  the  good  bishop  above  quoted 

lowly  that  he  would  have  gladly  received  any  favor  from  the  least  of 
Velasquez*  attendants,"  treats  the  story  of  the  bravado  with  contempt. 
"  Por  lo  qual  si  el  [Velasquez]  sintiera  de  Cortes  una  puncta  de  alfiler 
de  cerviguillo  6  presuncion,  6  lo  ahorcara  6  a  lo  menos  lo  echara  de 
la  tierra  y  lo  sumiera  en  ella  sin  que  alzara  cabeza  en  su  vida."  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  27. 

21  "  Pecuariam  primus  quoque  habuit,  in  insulamque  induxit,  omni 
pecorum  genere  ex  Hispania  petito."     De  Rebus  gestis,  MS, 

22  "  Los  que  por  sacarle  el  oro  murieron  Dios  abra  tenido  mejor 
cuenta  que  yo."     Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  27.     The  text 
is  a  free  translation. 


A R 'MA DA    INTRUSTED    TO    CORTES.          243 

remarks,  "that  he  lived  as  happily  with  her  as  if  she 
had  been  the  daughter  of  a  duchess."  Fortune  gave 
him  the  means  in  after-life  of  verifying  the  truth  of  his 
assertion.23 

Such  was  the  state  of  things,  when  Alvarado  re 
turned  with  the  tidings  of  Grijalva's  discoveries  and 
the  rich  fruits  of  his  traffic  with  the  natives.  The 
news  spread  like  wildfire  throughout  the  island ;  for  all 
saw  in  it  the  promise  of  more  important  results  than 
any  hitherto  obtained.  The  governor,  as  already 
noticed,  resolved  to  follow  up  the  track  of  discovery 
with  a  more  considerable  armament ;  and  he  looked 
around  for  a  proper  person  to  share  the  expense  of  it 
and  to  take  the  command. 

Several  hidalgos  presented  themselves,  whom,  from 
want  of  proper  qualifications,  or  from  his  distrust  of 
their  assuming  an  independence  of  their  employer,  he, 
one  after  another,  rejected.  There  were  two  persons 
in  St.  Jago  in  whom  he  placed  great  confidence, — 
Amador  de  Lares,  the  contador,  or  royal  treasurer,24 
and  his  own  secretary,  Andres  de  Duero.  Cortes  was 
also  in  close  intimacy  with  both  these  persons ;  and  he 
availed  himself  of  it  to  prevail  on  them  to  recommend 
him  as  a  suitable  person  to  be  intrusted  with  the  ex 
pedition.  It  is  said  he  reinforced  the  proposal  by 

=3  "  Estando  conmigo,  me  lo  dixo  que  estava  tan  contcnto  con  ella 
como  si  fuera  hija  de  una  Duquessa."  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  ubi 
supra. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  4. 

=4  The  treasurer  used  to  boast  he  had  passed  some  two-and-twenty 
years  in  the  wars  of  Italy.  He  was  a  shrewd  personage,  and  Las 
Casas,  thinking  that  country  a  slippery  school  for  morals,  warned  the 
governor,  he  says,  more  than  once  "  to  beware  of  the  twenty-two 
years  in  Italy."  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  113. 


244  DISCOVERY    OF   MEXICO. 

promising  a  liberal  share  of  the  proceeds  of  it.  How 
ever  this  may  be,  the  parties  urged  his  selection  by  the 
governor  with  all  the  eloquence  of  which  they  were 
capable.  That  officer  had  had  ample  experience  of  the 
capacity  and  courage  of  the  candidate.  He  knew,  too, 
that  he  had  acquired  a  fortune  which  would  enable  him 
to  co-operate  materially  in  fitting  out  the  armament. 
His  popularity  in  the  island  would  speedily  attract 
followers  to  his  standard.23  All  past  animosities  had 
long  since  been  buried  in  oblivion,  and  the  confidence 
he  was  now  to  repose  in  him  would  insure  his  fidelity 
and  gratitude.  He  lent  a  willing  ear,  therefore,  to  the 
recommendation  of  his  counsellors,  and,  sending  for 
Cortes,  announced  his  purpose  of  making  him  Captain- 
General  of  the  Armada.26 

Cortes  had  now  attained  the  object  of  his  wishes,— 
the  object  for  which  his  soul  had  panted  ever  since  he 
had  set  foot  in  the  New  World.  He  was  no  longer  to 
be  condemned  to  a  life  of  mercenary  drudgery,  nor  to 
be  cooped  up  within  the  precincts  of  a  petty  island ; 
but  he  was  to  be  placed  on  a  new  and  independent 
theatre  of  action,  and  a  boundless  prospective  was 
opened  to  his  view,  which  might  satisfy  not  merely  the 
wildest  cravings  of  avarice,  but,  to  a  bold,  aspiring 
spirit  like  his,  the  far  more  importunate  cravings  of 
ambition.  He  fully  appreciated  the  importance  of  the 
late  discoveries,  and  read  in  them  the  existence  of  the 

25  "Si  el  no  fuera  por  Capitan,  que  no  fuera  la  tercera  parte  de  la 
gente  que  con  el  fue."     Declaracion  de  Puertocarrero,  MS.  (Coruna, 
30  de  Abril,  1520). 

26  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  19. — De  Rebus  gestis, 
MS. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  7. — Las  Casas,   Hist,  general  de  las 
Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  113. 


ARMADA    INTRUSTED    TO    CORTES.          345 

great  empire  in  the  far  West,  dark  hints  of  which  had 
floated,  from  time  to  time,  to  the  Islands,  and  of  which 
more  certain  glimpses  had  been  caught  by  those  who 
had  reached  the  continent.  This  was  the  country  in 
timated  to  the  "  Great  Admiral"  in  his  visit  to  Hon 
duras  in  1502,  and  which  he  might  have  reached  had 
he  held  on  a  northern  course,  instead  of  striking  to 
the  south  in  quest  of  an  imaginary  strait.  As  it  was, 
"he  had  but  opened  the  gate,"  to  use  his  own  bitter 
expression,  "for  others  to  enter."  The  time  had  at 
length  come  when  they  were  to  enter  it;  and  the 
young  adventurer,  whose  magic  lance  was  to  dissolve 
the  spell  which  had  so  long  hung  over  these  mysterious 
regions,  now  stood  ready  to  assume  the  enterprise. 

From  this  hour  the  deportment  of  Cortes  seemed  to 
undergo  a  change.  His  thoughts,  instead  of  evaporat 
ing  in  empty  levities  or  idle  flashes  of  merriment,  were 
wholly  concentrated  on  the  great  object  to  which  he 
was  devoted.  His  elastic  spirits  were  shown  in  cheer 
ing  and  stimulating  the  companions  of  his  toilsome 
duties,  and  he  was  roused  to  a  generous  enthusiasm,  of 
which  even  those  who  knew  him  best  had  not  con 
ceived  him  capable.  He  applied  at  once  all  the  money 
in  his  possession  to  fitting  out  the  armament.  He 
raised  more  by  the  mortgage  of  his  estates,  and  by 
giving  his  obligations  to  some  wealthy  merchants  of 
the  place,  who  relied  for  their  reimbursement  on  the 
success  of  the  expedition ;  and,  when  his  own  credit 
was  exhausted,  he  availed  himself  of  that  of  his 
friends. 

The  funds  thus  acquired  he  expended  in  the  pur 
chase  of  vessels,  provisions,  and  military  stores,  while 

21* 


246  DISCOVERY    OP    MEXICO. 

he  invited  recruits  by  offers  of  assistance  to  such  as 
were  too  poor  to  provide  for  themselves,  and  by  the 
additional  promise  of  a  liberal  share  of  the  anticipated 
profits.27 

All  was  now  bustle  and  excitement  in  the  little  town 
of  St.  Jago.  Some  were  busy  in  refitting  the  vessels 
and  getting  them  ready  for  the  voyage ;  some  in  pro 
viding  naval  stores ;  others  in  converting  their  own 
estates  into  money  in  order  to  equip  themselves ; 
every  one  seemed  anxious  to  contribute  in  some  way 
or  other  to  the  success  of  the  expedition.  Six  ships, 
some  of  them  of  a  large  size,  had  already  been  pro 
cured  ;  and  three  hundred  recruits  enrolled  themselves 
in  the  course  of  a  few  days,  eager  to  seek  their 
fortunes  under  the  banner  of  this  daring  and  popular 
chieftain. 

How  far  the  governor  contributed  towards  the  ex 
penses  of  the  outfit  is  not  very  clear.  If  the  friends  of 
Cortes  are  to  be  believed,  nearly  the  whole  burden  fell 
on  him  ;  since,  while  he  supplied  the  squadron  without 
remuneration,  the  governor  sold  many  of  his  own 
stores  at  an  exorbitant  profit.28  Yet  it  does  not  seem 

*i  Declaracion  de  Puertocarrero,  MS. — Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — 
Probanza  en  la  Villa  Segura,  MS.  (4  de  Oct.,  1520). 

28  The  letter  from  the  Municipality  of  Vera  Cruz,  after  stating  that 
Velasquez  bore  only  one-third  of  the  original  expense,  adds,  "  Y  sepan 
Vras.  Magestades  que  la  mayor  parte  de  la  dicha  tercia  parte  que  el 
dicho  Diego  Velasquez  gasto  en  hacer  la  dicha  armada  fue  emplear 
sus  dineros  en  vinos  y  en  ropas,  y  en  otras  cosas  de  poco  valor  para 
nos  lo  vender  aca  en  mucha  mas  cantidad  de  lo  que  a  el  le  costo,  por 
manera  que  podemos  decir  que  entre  nosotros  los  Espanoles  vasallos 
de  Vras.  Reales  Altezas  ha  hecho  Diego  Velasquez  su  rescate  y 
granosea  de  sus  dineros  cobrandolos  muy  bien."  (Carta  de  Vera 
Cruz,  MS.)  Puertocarrero  and  Montejo,  also,  in  their  depositions 


ARMADA    INTRUSTED    TO    CORTES.          247 

probable  that  Velasquez,  with  such  ample  means  at  his 
command,  should  have  thrown  on  his  deputy  the  burden 
of  the  expedition,  nor  that  the  latter — had  he  done 
so — could  have  been  in  a  condition  to  meet  these  ex 
penses,  amounting,  as  we  are  told,  to  more  than  twenty 
thousand  gold  ducats.  Still  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
an  ambitious  man  like  Cortes,  who  was  to  reap  all  the 
glory  of  the  enterprise,  would  very  naturally  be  less 
solicitous  to  count  the  gains  of  it,  than  his  employer, 
who,  inactive  at  home,  and  having  no  laurels  to  win, 
must  look  on  the  pecuniary  profits  as  his  only  recom 
pense.  The  question  gave  rise,  some  years  later,  to  a 
furious  litigation  between  the  parties,  with  which  it  is 
not  necessary  at  present  to  embarrass  the  reader. 

It  is  due  to  Velasquez  to  state  that  the  instructions 
delivered  by  him  for  the  conduct  of  the  expedition 
cannot  be  charged  with  a  narrow  or  mercenary  spirit. 
The  first  object  of  the  voyage  was  to  find  Grijalva,  after 
which  the  two  commanders  were  to  proceed  in  com 
pany  together.  Reports  had  been  brought  back  by 
Cordova,  on  his  return  from  the  first  visit  to  Yucatan, 
that  six  Christians  were  said  to  be  lingering  in  cap 
tivity  in  the  interior  of  the  country.  It  was  supposed 
they  might  belong  to  the  party  of  the  unfortunate  Nicu- 
essa,  and  orders  were  given  to  find  them  out,  if  possi 
ble,  and  restore  them  to  liberty.  But  the  great  object  of 
the  expedition  was  barter  with  the  natives.  In  pursuing 

taken  in  Spain,  both  speak  of  Cortes'  having  furnished  two-thirds  of 
the  cost  of  the  flotilla.  (Declaracion  de  Puertocarrero,  MS. — Decla- 
racion  de  Montejo,  MS.  (29  de  Abril,  1520.).)  The  letter  from  Vera 
Cruz,  however,  was  prepared  under  the  eye  of  Cortes  ;  and  the  last 
two  were  his  confidential  officers. 


248  DISCOVERS    OF  MEXICO. 

this,  special  care  was  to  be  taken  that  they  should 
receive  no  wrong,  but  be  treated  with  kindness  and 
humanity.  Cortes  was  to  bear  in  mind,  above  all 
things,  that  the  object  which  the  Spanish  monarch  had 
most  at  heart  was  the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  He 
was  to  impress  on  them  the  grandeur  and  goodness  of 
his  royal  master,  to  invite  them  "  to  give  in  their 
allegiance  to  him,  and  to  manifest  it  by  regaling  him 
with  such  comfortable  presents  of  gold,  pearls,  and  pre 
cious  stones  as,  by  showing  their  own  good  will,  would 
secure  his  favor  and  protection."  He  was  to  make  an 
accurate  survey  of  the  coast,  sounding  its  bays  and 
inlets  for  the  benefit  of  future  navigators.  He  was  to 
acquaint  himself  with  the  natural  products  of  the 
country,  with  the  character  of  its  different  races,  their 
institutions  and  progress  in  civilization  :  and  he  was  to 
send  home  minute  accounts  of  all  these,  together  with 
such  articles  as  he  should  obtain  in  his  intercourse  with 
them.  Finally,  he  was  to  take  the  most  careful  care  to 
omit  nothing  that  might  redound  to  the  service  of  God 
or  his  sovereign.29 

Such  was  the  general  tenor  of  the  instructions  given 
to  Cortes ;  and  they  must  be  admitted  to  provide  for 
the  interests  of  science  and  humanity,  as  well  as  for 
those  which  had  reference  only  to  a  commercial  specu 
lation.  It  may  seem  strange,  considering  the  discon 
tent  shown  by  Velasquez  with  his  former  captain, 
Grijalva,  for  not  colonizing,  that  no  directions  should 

=9  The  instrument,  in  the  original  Castilian,  will  be  found  in  Ap 
pendix,  Part  2,  No.  5.  It  is  often  referred  to  by  writers  who  never 
saw  it,  as  the  Agreement  between  Cortes  and  Velasquez.  It  is,  in 
fact,  only  the  instructions  given  by  this  latter  to  his  officer,  who  wai 
no  party  to  it. 


ARMADA    INTRUSTED    TO    CORTES.          249 

have  been  given  to  that  effect  here.  But  he  had  not 
yet  received  from  Spain  the  warrant  for  investing  his 
agents  with  such  powers ;  and  that  which  had  been 
obtained  from  the  Hieronymite  fathers  in  Hispaniola 
conceded  only  the  right  to  traffic  with  the  natives. 
The  commission  at  the  same  time  recognized  the 
authority  of  Cortes  as  Captain-General  of  the  expe 
dition.30 

3°  Declaracion  de  Puertocarrero,  MS. — Gomara,  Cr6nica,  cap.  7. — 
Velasquez  soon  after  obtained  from  the  crown  authority  to  colonize 
the  new  countries,  with  the  title  of  adelantado  over  them.  The  in 
strument  was  dated  at  Barcelona,  Nov.  I3th,  1518.  (Herrera,  Hist, 
general,  dec.  2,  lib.  3,  cap.  8.)  Empty  privileges  !  Las  Casas  gives  a 
caustic  etymology  of  the  title  of  adelantado,  so  often  granted  to  the 
Spanish  discoverers.  "  Adelantados  porque  se  adelantaran  en  hazer 
males  y  danos  tan  gravisimos  d  gentes  pacificas."  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  117. 


CHAPTER    III. 

JEALOUSY  OF  VELASQUEZ.  —  CORTES  EMBARKS.  —  EQUIP 
MENT  OF  HIS  FLEET.  -  HIS  PERSON  AND  CHARACTER. 
-  RENDEZVOUS  AT  HAVANA.  -  STRENGTH  OF  HIS 
ARMAMENT. 


THE  importance  given  to  Cort£s  by  his  new  position, 
and,  perhaps,  a  somewhat  more  lofty  bearing,  gradually 
gave  uneasiness  to  the  naturally  suspicious  temper  of 
Velasquez,  who  became  apprehensive  that  his  officer, 
when  away  where  he  would  have  the  power,  might  also 
have  the  inclination,  to  throw  off  his  dependence  on 
him  altogether.  An  accidental  circumstance  at  this 
time  heightened  these  suspicions.  A  mad  fellow,  his 
jester,  one  of  those  crack-brained  wits  —  half  wit,  half 
fool  —  who  formed  in  those  days  a  common  appendage 
to  every  great  man's  establishment,  called  out  to  the 
governor,  as  he  was  taking  his  usual  walk  one  morning 
with  Cortes  towards  the  port,  "  Have  a  care,  master 
Velasquez,  or  we  shall  have  to  go  a-hunting,  some  day 
or  other,  after  this  same  captain  of  ours  !"  "  Do  you 
hear  what  the  rogue  says?"  exclaimed  the  governor  to 
his  companion.  "Do  not  heed  him,"  said  Cortes: 
"he  is  a  saucy  knave,  and  deserves  a  good  whip 
ping."  The  words  sank  deep,  however,  in  the  mind 
of  Velasquez,  —  as,  indeed,  true  jests  are  apt  to  stick. 

There  were  not  wanting  persons  about  his  Excel- 
(250) 


JEALOUSY    OF  VELASQUEZ.  251 

lency  who  fanned  the  latent  embers  of  jealousy  into  a 
blaze.  These  worthy  gentlemen,  some  of  them  kins 
men  of  Velasquez,  who  probably  felt  their  own  deserts 
somewhat  thrown  into  the  shade  by  the  rising  fortunes 
of  Cortes,  reminded  the  governor  of  his  ancient  quarrel 
with  that  officer,  and  of  the  little  probability  that 
affronts  so  keenly  felt  at  the  time  could  ever  be  for 
gotten.  By  these  and  similar  suggestions,  and  by  mis 
constructions  of  the  present  conduct  of  Cortes,  they 
wrought  on  the  passions  of  Velasquez  to  such  a  degree 
that  he  resolved  to  intrust  the  expedition  to  other 
hands.1 

He  communicated  his  design  to  his  confidential 
advisers,  Lares'  and  Duero,  and  these  trusty  personages 
reported  it  without  delay  to  Cortes,  although,  "to  a 
man  of  half  his  penetration,"  says  Las  Casas,  "the 
thing  would  have  been  readily  divined  from  the  gov 
ernor's  altered  demeanor."2  The  two  functionaries 
advised  their  friend  to  expedite  matters  as  much  as 
possible,  and  to  lose  no  time  in  getting  his  fleet  ready 
for  sea,  if  he  would  retain  the  command  of  it.  Cortes 
showed  the  same  prompt  decision  on  this  occasion 
which  more  than  once  afterwards  in  a  similar  crisis 
gave  the  direction  to  his  destiny. 

1  "  Deterrebat,"  says  the  anonymous  biographer,  "  enm  Cortesii 
natura  imperil  avida,  fiducia  sui  ingens,  et  nimius  sumptus  in  classe 
paranda.    Timere  itaque  Velasquius  coepit,  si  Cortesius  cum  ea  classe 
iret,  nihil  ad  se  vel  honoris  vel  lucri  rediturum."      De   Rebus  gestis, 
MS. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  19. — Las  Casas,  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114. 

2  "  Cortes  no  avia  menester  mas  para  entendello  de  mirar  el  gesto 
d  Diego  Velasquez  segun  su  astuta  viveza  y  mundana  sabiduria." 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114. 


252  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

He  had  not  yet  got  his  complement  of  men,  nor  of 
vessels,  and  was  very  inadequately  provided  with  sup 
plies  of  any  kind.  But  he  resolved  to  weigh  anchor 
that  very  night.  He  waited  on  his  officers,  informed 
them  of  his  purpose,  and  probably  of  the  cause  of  it ; 
and  at  midnight,  when  the  town  was  hushed  in  sleep, 
they  all  went  quietly  on  board,  and  the  little  squadron 
dropped  down  the  bay.  First,  however,  Cortes  had 
visited  the  person  whose  business  it  was  to  supply  the 
place  with  meat,  and  relieved  him  of  all  his  stock  on 
hand,  notwithstanding  his  complaint  that  the  city  must 
suffer  for  it  on  the  morrow,  leaving  him,  at  the  same 
time,  in  payment,  a  massive  gold  chain  of  much  value, 
which  he  wore  round  his  neck.3 

Great  was  the  amazement  of  the  good  citizens  of 
St.  Jago  when,  at  dawn,  they  saw  that  the  fleet,  which 
they  knew  was  so  ill  prepared  for  the  voyage,  had  left 
its  moorings  and  was  busily  getting  under  way.  The 
tidings  soon  came  to  the  ears  of  his  Excellency,  who, 
springing  from  his  bed,  hastily  dressed  himself,  mounted 
his  horse,  and,  followed  by  his  retinue,  galloped  down 
to  the  quay.  Cortes,  as  soon  as  he  descried  their 
approach,  entered  an  armed  boat,  and  came  within 
speaking-distance  of  the  shore.  "And  is  it  thus  you 
part  from  me?"  exclaimed  Velasquez;  "a  courteous 
way  of  taking  leave,  truly  !"  "  Pardon  me,"  answered 
Cortes;  "time  presses,  and  there  are  some  things  that 
should  be  done  before  they  are  even  thought  of.  Has 
your  Excellency  any  commands?"  But  the  mortified 

3  Las  Casas  had  the  story  from  Cortes'  own  mouth.  Hist,  de 
las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  7. — De  Rebus 
gestis,  MS. 


EQUIPMENT    OF  HIS   FLEET.  253 

governor  had  no  commands  to  give ;  and  Cortes,  po 
litely  waving  his  hand,  returned  to  his  vessel,  and  the 
little  fleet  instantly  made  sail  for  the  port  of  Macaca, 
about  fifteen  leagues  distant.  (November  18,  1518.) 
Velasquez  rode  back  to  his  house  to  digest  his  chagrin 
as  he  best  might ;  satisfied,  probably,  that  he  had  made 
at  least  two  blunders, — one  in  appointing  Cortes  to  the 
command,  the  other  in  attempting  to  deprive  him  of 
it.  For,  if  it  be  true  that  by  giving  our  confidence 
by  halves  we  can  scarcely  hope  to  make  a  friend,  it  is 
equally  true  that  by  withdrawing  it  when  given  we 
shall  make  an  enemy.4 

This  clandestine  departure  of  Cortes  has  been  se 
verely  criticised  by  some  writers,  especially  by  Las 
Casas.5  Yet  much  may  be  urged  in  vindication  of  his 
conduct.  He  had  been  appointed  to  the  command  by 
the  voluntary  act  of  the  governor,  and  this  had  been 
fully  ratified  by  the  authorities  of  Hispaniola.  He  had 
at  once  devoted  all  his  resources  to  the  undertaking, 
incurring,  indeed,  a  heavy  debt  in  addition.  He  was 
now  to  be  deprived  of  his  commission,  without  any 
misconduct  having  been  alleged  or  at  least  proved 

4  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114. — Herrera,  Hist, 
general,  dec.  2,  lib.  3,  cap.  12. — Solis,  who  follows  Bernal  Diaz  in 
saying  that  Cortes  parted  openly  and  amicably  from  Velasquez,  seems 
to  consider  it  a  great  slander  on  the  character  of  the  former  to  sup 
pose  that  he  wanted  to  break  with  the  governor  so  soon,  when  he  had 
received  so  little  provocation.  (Conquista,  lib.  i,  cap.  10.)  But  it  is 
not  necessary  to  suppose  that  Cortes  intended  a  rupture  with  his  em 
ployer  by  this  clandestine  movement,  but  only  to  secure  himself  in  the 
command.  At  all  events,  the  text  conforms  in  every  particular  to  the 
statement  of  Las  Casas,  who,  as  he  knew  both  the  parties  well,  and 
resided  on  the  island  at  the  time,  had  ample  means  of  information. 

s  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  114. 
VOL.  I.  22 


254  DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 

against  him.  Such  an  event  must  overwhelm  him  in 
irretrievable  ruin,  to  say  nothing  of  the  friends  from 
whom  he  had  so  largely  borrowed,  and  the  followers 
who  had  embarked  their  fortunes  in  the  expedition  on 
the  faith  of  his  commanding  it.  There  are  few  per 
sons,  probably,  who,  under  these  circumstances,  would 
have  felt  called  tamely  to  acquiesce  in  the  sacrifice  of 
their  hopes  to  a  groundless  and  arbitrary  whim.  The 
most  to  have  been  expected  from  Cortes  was  that  he 
should  feel  obliged  to  provide  faithfully  for  the  interests 
of  his  employer  in  the  conduct  of  the  enterprise.  How 
far  he  felt  the  force  of  this  obligation  will  appear  in 
the  sequel. 

From  Macaca,  where  Cortes"  laid  in  such  stores  as  he 
could  obtain  from  the  royal  farms,  and  which,  he  said, 
he  considered  as  "  a  loan  from  the  king,"  he  proceeded 
to  Trinidad  ;  a  more  considerable  town,  on  the  southern 
coast  of  Cuba.  Here  he  landed,  and,  erecting  his 
standard  in  front  of  his  quarters,  made  proclamation, 
with  liberal  offers  to  all  who  would  join  the  expedition. 
Volunteers  came  in  daily,  and  among  them  more  than 
a  hundred  of  Grijalva's  men,  just  returned  from  their 
voyage  and  willing  to  follow  up  the  discovery  under 
an  enterprising  leader.  The  fame  of  Cortes  attracted, 
also,  a  number  of  cavaliers  of  family  and  distinction, 
some  of  whom,  having  accompanied  Grijalva,  brought 
much  information  valuable  for  the  present  expedition. 
Among  these  hidalgos  may  be  mentioned  Pedro  de 
Alvarado  and  his  brothers,  Cristoval  de  Olid,  Alonso 
de  Avila,  Juan  Velasquez  de  Leon,  a  near  relation  of 
the  governor,  Alonso  Hernandez  de  Puertocarrero,  and 
Gonzalo  de  Sandoval, — all  of  them  men  who  took  a 


EQUIPMENT    OF  HIS    FLEET.  255 

most  important  part  in  the  Conquest.  Their  presence 
was  of  great  moment,  as  giving  consideration  to  the 
enterprise ;  and,  when  they  entered  the  little  camp 
of  the  adventurers,  the  latter  turned  out  to  welcome 
them  amidst  lively  strains  of  music  and  joyous  salvos 
of  artillery. 

Cortes  meanwhile  was  active  in  purchasing  military 
stores  and  provisions.  Learning  that  a  trading- vessel 
laden  with  grain  and  other  commodities  for  the  mines 
was  off  the  coast,  he  ordered  out  one  of  his  caravels  to 
seize  her  and  bring  her  into  port.  He  paid  the  master 
in  bills  for  both  cargo  and  ship,  and  even  persuaded 
this  man,  named  Sedefio,  who  was  wealthy,  to  join  his 
fortunes  to  the  expedition.  He  also  despatched  one  of 
his  officers,  Diego  de  Ordaz,  in  quest  of  another  ship, 
of  which  he  had  tidings,  with  instructions  to  seize  it  in 
like  manner,  and  to  meet  him  with  it  off  Cape  St.  An 
tonio,  the  westerly' point  of  the  island.6  By  this  he 
effected  another  object,  that  of  getting  rid  of  Ordaz, 
who  was  one  of  the  governor's  household,  and  an  in 
convenient  spy  on  his  own  actions. 

While  thus  occupied,  letters  from  Velasquez  were  re 
ceived  by  the  commander  of  Trinidad,  requiring  him 
to  seize  the  person  of  Cortes  and  to  detain  him,  as  he 
had  been  deposed  from  the  command  of  the  fleet, 
which  was  given  to  another.  This  functionary  com 
municated  his  instructions  to  the  principal  officers  in 

6  Las  Casas  had  this,  also,  from  the  lips  of  Cortes  in  later  life. 
"  Todo  esto  me  dixo  el  mismo  Cortes,  con  otras  cosas  cerca  dello 
despues  de  Marques ;  .  .  .  reindo  y  mofando  e  con  estas  formales 
palabras,  A  la  mi  fee  andube  por  alii  como  un  gentil  cosario."  HisU 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  115. 


256  DISCOVERY    OF   MEXICO. 

the  expedition,  who  counselled  him  not  to  make  the 
attempt,  as  it  would  undoubtedly  lead  to  a  commotion 
among  the  soldiers,  that  might  end  in  laying  the  town 
in  ashes.  Verdugo  thought  it  prudent  to  conform  to 
this  advice.7 

As  Cortes  was  willing  to  strengthen  himself  by  still 
further  reinforcements,  he  ordered  Alvarado  with  a 
small  body  of  men  to  march  across  the  country  to  the 
Havana,  while  he  himself  would  sail  round  the  westerly 
point  of  the  island  and  meet  him  there  with  the  squad 
ron.  In  this  port  he  again  displayed  his  standard, 
making  the  usual  proclamation.  He  caused  all  the 
large  guns  to  be  brought  on  shore,  and,  with  the  small 
arms  and  cross-bows,  to  be  put  in  order.  As  there  was 
abundance  of  cotton  raised  in  this  neighborhood,  he 
had  the  jackets  of  the  soldiers  thickly  quilted  with  it, 
for  a  defence  against  the  Indian  arrows,  from  which 
the  troops  in  the  former  expeditions  had  grievously 
suffered.  He  distributed  his  men  into  eleven  com 
panies,  each  under  the  command  of  an  experienced 
officer ;  and  it  was  observed  that,  although  several  of 
the  cavaliers  in  the  service  were  the  personal  friends 
and  even  kinsmen  of  Velasquez,  he  appeared  to  treat 
them  all  with  perfect  confidence. 

His  principal  standard  was  of  black  velvet,  em 
broidered  with  gold,  and  emblazoned  with  a  red  cross 
amidst  flames  of  blue  and  white,  with  this  motto  in 
Latin  beneath  :  ' '  Friends,  let  us  follow  the  Cross ;  and 
under  this  sign,  if  we  have  faith,  we  shall  conquer." 
He  now  assumed  more  state  in  his  own  person  and  way 

7  De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  8. — Las  Casas, 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap,  114,  115. 


CORTES'    PERSON  AND    CHARACTER.        257 

of  living,  introducing  a  greater  number  of  domestics 
and  officers  into  his  household,  and  placing  it  on  a 
footing  becoming  a  man  of  high  station.  This  state 
he  maintained  through  the  rest  of  his  life.8 

Cortes  at  this  time  was  thirty-three,  or  perhaps  thirty- 
four,  years  of  age.  In  stature  he  was  rather  above  the 
middle  size.  His  complexion  was  pale  ;  and  his  large 
dark  eye  gave  an  expression  of  gravity  to  his  counte 
nance,  not  to  have  been  expected  in  one  of  his  cheer 
ful  temperament.  His  figure  was  slender,  at  least  until 
later  life  ;  but  his  chest  was  deep,  his  shoulders  broad, 
his  frame  muscular  and  well  proportioned.  It  pre 
sented  the  union  of  agility  and  vigor  which  qualified 
him  to  excel  in  fencing,  horsemanship,  and  the  other 
generous  exercises  of  chivalry.  In  his  diet  he  was 
temperate,  careless  of  what  he  ate,  and  drinking  little ; 
while  to  toil  and  privation  he  seemed  perfectly  indif 
ferent.  His  dressx  for  he  did  not  disdain  the  impres 
sion  produced  by  such  adventitious  aids,  was  such  as 
to  set  off  his  handsome  person  to  advantage ;  neither 
gaudy  nor  striking,  but  rich.  He  wore  few  ornaments, 
and  usually  the  same ;  but  those  were  of  great  price. 
His  manners,  frank  and  soldier-like,  concealed  a  most 
cool  and  calculating  spirit.  With  his  gayest  humor 
there  mingled  a  settled  air  of  resolution,  which  made 
those  who  approached  him  feel  they  must  obey,  and 
which  infused  something  like  awe  into  the  attachment 
of  his  most  devoted  followers.  Such  a  combination, 
in  which  love  was  tempered  by  authority,  was  the  one 

8  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  24. — De  Rebus  gestis, 
MS. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  8. — Las  Cnsas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  cap.  n^. — The  legend  on  the  standard  was,  doubtless,  sug 
gested  by  that  on  the  labaruin, — the  sacred  banner  of  Constantine. 


258  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

probably  best  calculated  to  inspire  devotion  in  the 
rough  and  turbulent  spirits  among  whom  his  lot  was 
to  be  cast. 

The  character  of  Cortes  seems  to  have  undergone 
some  change  with  change  of  circumstances ;  or,  to 
speak  more  correctly,  the  new  scenes  in  which  he  was 
placed  called  forth  qualities  which  before  lay  dormant 
in  his  bosom.  There  are  some  hardy  natures  that 
require  the  heats  of  excited  action  to  unfold  their 
energies ;  like  the  plants  which,  closed  to  the  mild 
influence  of  a  temperate  latitude,  come  to  their  full 
growth,  and  give  forth  their  fruits,  only  in  the  burning 
atmosphere  of  the  tropics.  Such  is  the  portrait  left 
to  us  by  his  contemporaries  of  this  remarkable  man ; 
the  instrument  selected  by  Providence  to  scatter  terror 
among  the  barbarian  monarchs  of  the  Western  World, 
and  lay  their  empires  in  the  dust.9 

Before  the  preparations  were  fully  completed  at  the 
Havana,  the  commander  of  the  place,  Don  Pedro  Barba, 
received  despatches  from  Velasquez  ordering  him  to 
apprehend  Cortes  and  to  prevent  the  departure  of  his 
vessels ;  while  another  epistle  from  the  same  source 
was  delivered  to  Cortes  himself,  requesting  him  to 
postpone  his  voyage  till  the  governor  could  communi 
cate  with  him,  as  he  proposed,  in  person.  "Never," 
exclaims  Las  Casas,  "did  I  see  so  little  knowledge  of 
affairs  shown,  as  in  this  letter  of  Diego  Velasquez, — 
that  he  should  have  imagined  that  a  man  who  had  so 

9  The  most  minute  notices  of  the  person  and  habits  of  Cortes  are 
to  be  gathered  from  the  narrative  of  the  old  cavalier  Bernal  Diaz,  who 
served  so  long  under  him,  and  from  Gomara,  the  general's  chaplain. 
See  in  particular  the  last  chapter  of  Gomara's  Cronica,  and  cap.  203 
of  the  Hist,  de  la  Conquista. 


STRENGTH    OF  HIS   ARMAMENT.  259 

recently  put  such  an  affront  on  him  would  defer  his 
departure  at  his  bidding!"10  It  was,  indeed,  hoping 
to  stay  the  flight  of  the  arrow  by  a  word,  after  it  had 
left  the  bow. 

The  Captain  -  General,  however,  during  his  short 
stay,  had  entirely  conciliated  the  good  will  of  Barba. 
And,  if  that  officer  had  had  the  inclination,  he  knew 
he  had  not  the  power,  to  enforce  his  principal's  orders, 
in  the  face  of  a  resolute  soldiery,  incensed  at  this 
ungenerous  persecution  of  their  commander,  and  "all 
of  whom,"  in  the  words  of  the  honest  chronicler  who 
bore  part  in  the  expedition,  "officers  and  privates, 
would  have  cheerfully  laid  down  their  lives  for  him."  " 
Barba  contented  himself,  therefore,  with  explaining  to 
Velasquez  the  impracticability  of  the  attempt,  and  at 
the  same  time  endeavored  to  tranquillize  his  apprehen 
sions  by  asserting  his  own  confidence  in  the  fidelity  of 
Cortes.  To  this  the  latter  added  a  communication  of 
his  own,  couched  "in  the  soft  terms  he  knew  so  well 
how  to  use,"  I2  in  which  he  implored  his  Excellency  to 
rely  on  his  devotion  to  his  interests,  and  concluded 
with  the  comfortable  assurance  that  he  and  the  whole 
fleet,  God  willing,  would  sail  on  the  following  morning. 

Accordingly,  on  the  roth  of  February,  1519,  the 
little  squadron  got  under  way,  and  directed  its  course 
towards  Cape  St.  Antonio,  the  appointed  place  of  ren 
dezvous.  When  all  were  brought  together,  the  vessels 
were  found  to  be  eleven  in  number ;  one  of  them,  in 
which  Cortes  himself  went,  was  of  a  hundred  tons' 

10  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  115. 

11  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  24. 
«  Ibid.,  loc.  cit. 


260  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

burden,  three  others  were  from  seventy  to  eighty  tons ; 
the  remainder  were  caravels  and  open  brigantines. 
The  whole  was  put  under  the  direction  of  Antonio  de 
Alaminos,  as  chief  pilot ;  a  veteran  navigator,  who  had 
acted  as  pilot  to  Columbus  in  his  last  voyage,  and  to 
Cordova  and  Grijalva  in  the  former  expeditions  to 
Yucatan. 

Landing  on  the  Cape  and  mustering  his  forces, 
Cortes  found  they  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  ten 
manners,  five  hundred  and  fifty-three  soldiers,  in 
cluding  thirty-two  crossbowmen,  and  thirteen  arque- 
busiers,  besides  two  hundred  Indians  of  the  island, 
and  a  few  Indian  women  for  menial  offices.  He  was 
provided  with  ten  heavy  guns,  four  lighter  pieces  called 
falconets,  and  with  a  good  supply  of  ammunition.13 
He  had  besides  sixteen  horses.  They  were  not  easily 
procured ;  for  the  difficulty  of  transporting  them  across 
the  ocean  in  the  flimsy  craft  of  that  day  made  them 
rare  and  incredibly  dear  in  the  Islands.14  But  Cortes 

X3  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  26. — There  is  some  dis 
crepancy  among  authorities  in  regard  to  the  numbers  of  the  army. 
The  Letter  from  Vera  Cruz,  which  should  have  been  exact,  speaks  in 
round  terms  of  only  four  hundred  soldiers.  (Carta.de  Vera  Cruz, 
MS.)  Velasquez  himself,  in  a  communication  to  the  Chief  Judge 
of  Hispaniola,  states  the  number  at  six  hundred.  (Carta  de  Diego 
Velasquez  al  Lie.  Figueroa,  MS.)  I  have  adopted  the  estimates  of 
Bernal  Diaz,  who,  in  his  long  service,  seems  to  have  become  inti 
mately  acquainted  with  every  one  of  his  comrades,  their  persons,  and 
private  history. 

*4  Incredibly  dear  indeed,  since,  from  the  statements  contained  in 
the  depositions  at  Villa  Segura,  it  appears  that  the  cost  of  the  horses 
for  the  expedition  was  from  four  to  five  hundred  pesos  de  oro  each  !  "  Si 
saben  que  de  caballos  que  el  dicho  Senor  Capitan  General  Hernando 
Cortes  ha  comprado  para  servir  en  la  dicha  Conquista,  que  son  diez  e 
ocho,  que  le  han  costado  d  quatrocientos  cinquenta  e  &  quinientos 


STRENGTH   OF  HIS  ARMAMENT.  261 

rightfully  estimated  the  importance  of  cavalry,  however 
small  in  number,  both  for  their  actual  service  in  the 
field,  and  for  striking  terror  into  the  savages.  With 
so  paltry  a  force  did  he  enter  on  a  conquest  which 
even  his  stout  heart  must  have  shrunk  from  attempting 
with  such  means,  had  he  but  foreseen  half  its  real 
difficulties  ! 

Before  embarking,  Cortes  addressed  his  soldiers  in  a 
short  but  animated  harangue.  He  told  them  they  were 
about  to  enter  on  a  noble  enterprise,  one  that  would 
make  their  name  famous  to  after-ages.  He  was  leading 
them  to  countries  more  vast  and  opulent  than  any  yet 
visited  by  Europeans.  "I  hold  out  to  you  a  glorious 
prize,"  continued  the  orator,  "but  it  is  to  be  won  by 
incessant  toil.  Great  things  are  achieved  only  by  great 
exertions,  and  glory  was  never  the  reward  of  sloth.13 
If  I  have  labored  hard  and  staked  my  all  on  this  under 
taking,  it  is  for  the  love  of  that  renown  which  is  the 
noblest  recompense  of  man.  But,  if  any  among  you 
covet  riches  more,  be  but  true  to  me,  as  I  will  be  true 
to  you  and  to  the  occasion,  and  I  will  make  you  masters 
of  such  as  our  countrymen  have  never  dreamed  of! 
You  are  few  in  number,  but  strong  in  resolution ;  and, 

pesos  ha  pagado,  e  que  deve  mas  de  ocho  mil  pesos  de  oro  dellos." 
(Probanza  en  Villa  Segura,  MS.)  The  estimation  of  these  horses  is 
sufficiently  shown  by  the  minute  information  Bernal  Diaz  has  thought 
proper  to  give  of  every  one  of  them  ;  minute  enough  for  the  pages  of 
a  sporting  calendar.  See  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  23. 

*5  "  Io  vos  propongo  grandes  premios,  mas  embueltos  en  grandes 
trabajos ;  pero  la  virtud  no  quiere  ociosidad."  (Gomara,  Cronica, 
cap.  9.)  It  is  the  thought  so  finely  expressed  by  Thomson : 

"  For  sluggard's  brow  the  laurel  never  grows  ; 
Renown  is  not  the  child  of  indolent  repose." 


262  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

if  this  does  not  falter,  doubt  not  but  that  the  Almighty, 
who  has  never  deserted  the  Spaniard  in  his  contest 
with  the  infidel,  will  shield  you,  though  encompassed 
by  a  cloud  of  enemies ;  for  your  cause  is  a  just  cause, 
and  you  are  to  fight  under  the  banner  of  the  Cross. 
Go  forward,  then,"  he  concluded,  "with  alacrity  and 
confidence,  and  carry  to  a  glorious  issue  the  work  so 
auspiciously  begun."  l6 

The  rough  eloquence  of  the  general,  touching  the 
various  chords  of  ambition,  avarice,  and  religious  zeal, 
sent  a  thrill  through  the  bosoms  of  his  martial  audi 
ence  ;  and,  receiving  it  with  acclamations,  they  seemed 
eager  to  press  forward  under  a  chief  who  was  to  lead 
them  not  so  much  to  battle,  as  to  triumph. 

Cortes  was  well  satisfied  to  find  his  own  enthusiasm 
so  largely  shared  by  his  followers.  Mass  was  then 
celebrated  with  the  solemnities  usual  with  the  Spanish 
navigators  when  entering  on  their  voyages  of  discovery. 
The  fleet  was  placed  under  the  immediate  protection 
of  St.  Peter,  the  patron  saint  of  Cortes,  and,  weighing 
anchor,  took  its  departure  on  the  eighteenth  day  of 
February,  1519,  for  the  coast  of  Yucatan.17 

16  The  text  is  a  very  condensed  abridgment  of  the  original  speech 
of  Cortes, — or  of  his  chaplain,  as  the  case  may  be.  See  it,  in  Gomara, 
Cronica,  cap.  9. 

•  *7  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  cap.  115. — Gomara,  Cronica, 
cap.  10. — De  Rebus  gestis,  MS. — "  Tantus  fuit  armorum  apparatus," 
exclaims  the  author  of  the  last  work,  "  quo  alterum  terrarum  orbern 
bellis  Cortesius  concutit ;  ex  tarn  parvis  opibus  tantum  imperium 
Carolo  facit ;  aperitque  omnium  primus  Hispanas  genti  Hispaniam 
novam  !"  The  author  of  this  work  is  unknown.  It  seems  to  have 
been  part  of  a  great  compilation  "  De  Orbe  Novo,"  written,  probably, 
on  the  plan  of  a  series  of  biographical  sketches,  as  the  introduction 
speaks  of  a  life  of  Columbus  preceding  this  of  Cortes.  It  was  com- 


ESTRELLA'S   MANUSCRIPT.  263 

posed,  as  it  states,  while  many  of  the  old  Conquerors  were  still  sur 
viving,  and  is  addressed  to  the  son  of  Cortes.  The  historian,  therefore, 
had  ample  means  of  verifying  the  truth  of  his  own  statements,  although 
they  too  often  betray,  in  his  partiality  for  his  hero,  the  influence  of  the 
patronage  under  which  the  work  was  produced.  It  runs  into  a  pro 
lixity  of  detail  which,  however  tedious,  has  its  uses  in  a  contemporary 
document.  Unluckily,  only  the  first  book  was  finished,  or,  at  least, 
has  survived  ;  terminating  with  the  events  of  this  chapter.  It  is  writ 
ten  in  Latin,  in  a  pure  and  perspicuous  style,  and  is  conjectured  with 
some  plausibility  to  be  the  work  of  Calvet  de  Estrella,  Chronicler  of 
the  Indies.  The  original  exists  in  the  Archives  of  Simancas,  where  it 
was  discovered  and  transcribed  by  Munoz,  from  whose  copy  that  in 
my  library  was  taken. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

VOYAGE  TO  COZUMEL.  —  CONVERSION  OF  THE  NATIVES.  - 
GER6NIMO  DE  AGUILAR.  -  ARMY  ARRIVES  AT  TABASCO. 
—  GREAT  BATTLE  WITH  THE  INDIANS.  -  CHRISTIANITY 
INTRODUCED. 


ORDERS  were  given  for  the  vessels  to  keep  as  near 
together  as  possible,  and  to  take  the  direction  of  the 
capitania,  or  admiral's  ship,  which  carried  a  beacon- 
light  in  the  stern  during  the  night.  But  the  weather, 
which  had  been  favorable,  changed  soon  after  their 
departure,  and  one  of  those  tempests  set  in  which  at 
this  season  are  often  found  in  the  latitudes  of  the  West 
Indies.  It  fell  with  terrible  force  on  the  little  navy, 
scattering  it  far  asunder,  dismantling  some  of  the 
ships,  and  driving  them  all  considerably  south  of  their 
proposed  destination. 

Cortes,  who  had  lingered  behind  to  convoy  a  dis 
abled  vessel,  reached  the  island  of  Cozumel  last.  On 
landing,  he  learned  that  one  of  his  captains,  Pedro 
de  Alvarado,  had  availed  himself  of  the  short  time  he 
had  been  there,  to  enter  the  temples,  rifle  them  of 
their  few  ornaments,  and,  by  his  violent  conduct,  so 
far  to  terrify  the  simple  natives  that  they  had  fled  for 
refuge  into  the  interior  of  the  island.  Cortes,  highly 
incensed  at  these  rash  proceedings,  so  contrary  to  the 
policy  he  had  proposed,  could  not  refrain  from  severely 
reprimanding  his  officer  in  the  presence  of  the  army. 
(264) 


VOYAGE    TO    COZUMEL.  265 

He  commanded  two  Indian  captives,  taken  by  Alva- 
rado,  to  be  brought  before  him,  and  explained  to  them 
the  pacific  purpose  of  his  visit.  This  he  did  through 
the  assistance  of  his  interpreter,  Melchorejo,  a  native 
of  Yucatan,  who  had  been  brought  back  by  Grijalva, 
and  who  during  his  residence  in  Cuba  had  picked  up 
some  acquaintance  with  the  Castilian.  He  then  dis 
missed  them  loaded  with  presents,  and  with  an  invita 
tion  to  their  countrymen  to  return  to  their  homes 
without  fear  of  further  annoyance.  This  humane 
policy  succeeded.  The  fugitives,  reassured,  were  not 
slow  in  coming  back;  and  an  amicable  intercourse 
was  established,  in  which  Spanish  cutlery  and  trinkets 
were  exchanged  for  the  gold  ornaments  of  the  natives ; 
a  traffic  in  which  each  party  congratulated  itself — a 
philosopher  might  think  with  equal  reason — on  out 
witting  the  other. 

The  first  object  of  Cortes  was  to  gather  tidings  of 
the  unfortunate  Christians  who  were  reported  to  be 
still  lingering  in  captivity  on  the  neighboring  conti 
nent.  From  some  traders  in  the  island  he  obtained 
such  a  confirmation  of  the  report  that  he  sent  Diego 
de  Ordaz  with  two  brigantines  to  the  opposite  coast  of 
Yucatan,  with  instructions  to  remain  there  eight  days. 
Some  Indians  went  as  messengers  in  the  vessels,  who 
consented  to  bear  a  letter  to  the  captives  informing 
them  of  the  arrival  of  their  countrymen  in  Cozumel 
with  a  liberal  ransom  for  their  release.  Meanwhile 
the  general  proposed  to  make  an  excursion  to  the 
different  parts  of  the  island,  that  he  might  give  em 
ployment  to  the  restless  spirits  of  the  soldiers,  and 
ascertain  the  resources  of  the  country. 
VOL.  I. — M  23 


266  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

It  was  poor  and  thinly  peopled.  But  everywhere  he 
recognized  the  vestiges  of  a  higher  civilization  than 
what  he  had  before  witnessed  in  the  Indian  islands. 
The  houses  were  some  of  them  large,  and  often  built 
of  stone  and  lime.  He  was  particularly  struck  with  the 
temples,  in  which  were  towers  constructed  of  the  same 
solid  materials,  and  rising  several  stories  in  height.  In 
the  court  of  one  of  these  he  was  amazed  by  the  sight  of 
a  cross,  of  stone  and  lime,  about  ten  palms  high.  It 
was  the  emblem  of  the  god  of  rain.  Its  appearance 
suggested  the  wildest  conjectures,  not  merely  to  the 
unlettered  soldiers,  but  subsequently  to  the  European 
scholar,  who  speculated  on  the  character  of  the  races 
that  had  introduced  there  the  sacred  symbol  of  Chris 
tianity.  But  no  such  inference,  as  we  shall  see  here 
after,  could  be  warranted.1  Yet  it  must  be  regarded 
as  a  curious  fact  that  the  Cross  should  have  been  ven 
erated  as  the  object  of  religious  worship  both  in  the 
New  World  and  in  regions  of  the  Old  where  the  light 
of  Christianity  had  never  risen.2 

1  See  Appendix,  Part  i,  Note  27. 

2  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  25,  et  seq. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  10,  15. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de 
las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  115. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib. 
4,  cap.  6. — Martyr,  de  Insulis  nuper  inventis  (Coloniae,  1574),  p.  344. 
— While  these  pages  were  passing  through  the  press,  but  not  till  two 
years  after  they  were  written,  Mr.  Stephens's  important  and  interest 
ing  volumes  appeared,  containing  the  account  of  his  second  expedi 
tion  to  Yucatan.     In  the  latter  part  of  the  work  he  describes  his  visit 
to  Cozumel,  now  an  uninhabited  island  covered  with  impenetrable 
forests.     Near  the  shore  he  saw  the  remains  of  ancient  Indian  struc 
tures,  which  he  conceives  may  possibly  have  been  the  same  that  met 
the  eyes  of  Grijalva  and  Cortes,  and  which  suggest  to  him  some  im 
portant  inferences.    He  is  led  into  further  reflections  on  the  existence 


CONVERSION   OF    THE    NATIVES.  267 

The  next  object  of  Cortes  was  to  reclaim  the  natives 
from  their  gross  idolatry  and  to  substitute  a  purer  form 
of  worship.  In  accomplishing  this  he  was  prepared 
to  use  force,  if  milder  measures  should  be  ineffectual. 
There  was  nothing  which  the  Spanish  government  had 
more  earnestly  at  heart  than  the  conversion  of  the 
Indians.  It  forms  the  constant  burden  of  their  in 
structions,  and  gave  to  the  military  expeditions  in  this 
western  hemisphere  somewhat  of  the  air  of  a  crusade. 
The  cavalier  who  embarked  in  them  entered  fully  into 
these  chivalrous  and  devotional  feelings.  No  doubt 
was  entertained  of  the  efficacy  of  conversion,  however 
sudden  might  be  the  change  or  however  violent  the 
means.  The  sword  was  a  good  argument,  when  the 
tongue  failed ;  and  the  spread  of  Mahometanism  had 
shown  that  seeds  sown  by  the  hand  of  violence,  far 
from  perishing  in  the  ground,  would  spring  up  and 
bear  fruit  to  after-time.  If  this  were  so  in  a  bad  cause, 
how  much  more  would  it  be  true  in  a  good  one  !  The 

of  the  cross  as  a  symbol  of  worship  among  the  islanders.  (Incidents 
of  Travel  in  Yucatan  (New  York,  1843),  vol.  ii.  chap.  20.)  As  the 
discussion  of  these  matters  would  lead  me  too  far  from  the  track  of 
our  narrative,  I  shall  take  occasion  to  return  to  them  hereafter,  when 
I  treat  of  the  architectural  remains  of  the  country.* 


*  [In  the  passages  here  referred  to,  the  author  has  noticed  various 
proofs  of  the  existence  of  the  cross  as  a  symbol  of  worship  among 
pagan  nations  both  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New.  The  fact  has 
been  deemed  a  very  puzzling  one  ;  yet  the  explanation,  as  traced  by 
Dr.  Brinton,  is  sufficiently  simple  :  "  The  arms  of  the  cross  were 
designed  to  point  to  the  cardinal  points  and  represent  the  four  winds, 
— the  rain-bringers."  Hence  the  name  given  to  it  in  the  Mexican 
language,  signifying  "  Tree  of  our  Life," — a  term  well  calculated  to 
increase  the  wonderment  of  the  Spanish  discoverers.  Myths  of  the 
New  World,  p.  96,  et  al.— ED.] 


268  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

Spanish  cavalier  felt  he  had  a  high  mission  to  accom 
plish  as  a  soldier  of  the  Cross.  However  unauthorized 
or  unrighteous  the  war  into  which  he  had  entered  may 
seem  to  us,  to  him  it  was  a  holy  war.  He  was  in  arms 
against  the  infidel.  Not  to  care  for  the  soul  of  his 
benighted  enemy  was  to  put  his  own  in  jeopardy.  The 
conversion  of  a  single  soul  might  cover  a  multitude  of 
sins.  It  was  not  for  morals  that  he  was  concerned,  but 
for  the  faith.  This,  though  understood  in  its  most 
literal  and  limited  sense,  comprehended  the  whole 
scheme  of  Christian  morality.  Whoever  died  in  the 
faith,  however  immoral  had  been  his  life,  might  be 
said  to  die  in  the  Lord.  Such  was  the  creed  of  the 
Castilian  knight  of  that  day,  as  imbibed  from  the 
preachings  of  the  pulpit,  from  cloisters  and  colleges  at 
home,  from  monks  and  missionaries  abroad, — from  all 
save  one,  whose  devotion,  kindled  at  a  purer  source, 
was  not,  alas  !  permitted  to  send  forth  its  radiance  far 
into  the  thick  gloom  by  which  he  was  encompassed.3 

No  one  partook  more  fully  of  the  feelings  above 
described  than  Hernan  Cortes.  He  was,  in  truth,  the 
very  mirror  of  the  time  in  which  he  lived,  reflecting 
its  motley  characteristics,  its  speculative  devotion  and 
practical  license,  but  with  an  intensity  all  his  own. 
He  was  greatly  scandalized  at  the  exhibition  of  the 
idolatrous  practices  of  the  people  of  Cozumel,  though 
untainted,  as  it  would  seem,  with  human  sacrifices. 
He  endeavored  to  persuade  them  to  embrace  a  better 
faith,  through  the  agency  of  two  ecclesiastics  who 

3  See  the  biographical  sketch  of  the  good  bishop  Las  Casas,  the 
"  Protector  of  the  Indians,"  in  the  Postscript  at  the  close  of  the 
present  Book. 


CONVERSION    OF    THE    NATIVES.  269 

attended  the  expedition, — the  licentiate  Juan  Diaz  and 
Father  Bartolome  de  Olmedo.  The  latter  of  these 
godly  men  afforded  the  rare  example — rare  in  any  age 
— of  the  union  of  fervent  zeal  with  charity,  while  he 
beautifully  illustrated  in  his  own  conduct  the  precepts 
which  he  taught.  He  remained  with  the  army  through 
the  whole  expedition,  and  by  his  wise  and  benevolent 
counsels  was  often  enabled  to  mitigate  the  cruelties 
of  the  Conquerors,  and  to  turn  aside  the  edge  of  the 
sword  from  the  unfortunate  natives. 

These  two  missionaries  vainly  labored  to  persuade 
the  people  of  Cozumel  to  renounce  their  abominations, 
and  to  allow  the  Indian  idols,  in  which  the  Christians 
recognized  the  true  lineaments  of  Satan,4  to  be  thrown 
down  and  demolished.  The  simple  natives,  filled  with 
horror  at  the  proposed  profanation,  exclaimed  that 
these  were  the  gods  who  sent  them  the  sunshine  and 
the  storm,  and,  should  any  violence  be  offered,  they 
would  be  sure  to  avenge  it  by  sending  their  lightnings 
on  the  heads  of  its  perpetrators. 

Cortes  was  probably  not  much  of  a  polemic.  At  all 
events,  he  preferred  on  the  present  occasion  action  to 
argument,  and  thought  that  the  best  way  to  convince 
the  Indians  of  their  error  was  to  prove  the  falsehood 
of  the  prediction.  He  accordingly,  without  further 
ceremony,  caused  the  venerated  images  to  be  rolled 
down  the  stairs  of  the  great  temple,  amidst  the  groans 
and  lamentations  of  the  natives.  An  altar  was  hastily 

4  "  It  may  have  been  that  the  devil  appeared  to  them  as  he  is,  and 
left  these  forms  stamped  on  their  imagination,  so  that  the  imitative 
power  of  the  artist  reveals  itself  in  the  ugliness  of  the  image."  Solis, 
Conquista,  p.  39. 


270  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

constructed,  an  image  of  the  Virgin  and  Child  placed 
over  it,  and  mass  was  performed  by  Father  Olmedo 
and  his  reverend  companion  for  the  first  time  within 
the  walls  of  a  temple  in  New  Spain.  The  patient  min 
isters  tried  once  more  to  pour  the  light  of  the  gospel 
into  the  benighted  understandings  of  the  islanders,  and 
to  expound  the  mysteries  of  the  Catholic  faith.  The 
Indian  interpreter  must  have  afforded  rather  a  dubious 
channel  for  the  transmission  of  such  abstruse  doctrines. 
But  they  at  length  found  favor  with  their  auditors, 
who,  whether  overawed  by  the  bold  bearing  of  the  in 
vaders,  or  convinced  of  the  impotence  of  deities  that 
could  not  shield  their  own  shrines  from  violation,  now 
consented  to  embrace  Christianity.5 

While  Cortes  was  thus  occupied  with  the  triumphs 
of  the  Cross,  he  received  intelligence  that  Ordaz  had 
returned  from  Yucatan  without  tidings  of  the  Spanish 
captives.  Though  much  chagrined,  the  general  did 
not  choose  to  postpone  longer  his  departure  from  Co- 

5  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Gomara,  Cronica.  cap.  13. — Herrera, 
Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  4,  cap.  7. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS., 
cap.  78. — Las  Casas,  whose  enlightened  views  in  religion  would  have 
done  honor  to  the  present  age,  insists  on  the  futility  of  these  forced 
conversions,  by  which  it  was  proposed  in  a  few  days  to  wean  men  from 
the  idolatry  which  they  had  been  taught  to  reverence  from  the  cradle. 
"  The  only  way  of  doing  this,"  he  says,  "  is  by  long,  assiduous,  and 
faithful  preaching,  until  the  heathen  shall  gather  some  ideas  of  the 
true  nature  of  the  Deity  and  of  the  doctrines  they  are  to  embrace. 
Above  all,  the  lives  of  the  Christians  should  be  such  as  to  exemplify 
the  truth  of  these  doctrines,  that,  seeing  this,  the  poor  Indian  may 
glorify  the  Father,  and  acknowledge  him,  who  has  such  worshippers, 
for  the  true  and  only  God."  See  the  original  remarks,  which  I  quote 
in  extensot  as  a  good  specimen  of  the  bishop's  style  when  kindled  by 
his  subject  into  eloquence,  in  Appendix,  Part  2,  No.  6. 


GERONIMO    DE    AGUILAR,  271 

zumel.  The  fleet  had  been  well  stored  with  provisions 
by  the  friendly  inhabitants,  and,  embarking  his  troops, 
Cortes,  in  the  beginning  of  March,  took  leave  of  its 
hospitable  shores.  The  squadron  had  not  proceeded 
far,  however,  before  a  leak  in  one  of  the  vessels  com 
pelled  them  to  return  to  the  same  port.  The  detention 
was  attended  with  important  consequences ;  so  much 
so,  indeed,  that  a  writer  of  the  time  discerns  in  it  "a 
great  mystery  and  a  miracle. ' ' 6 

Soon  after  landing,  a  canoe  with  several  Indians  was 
seen  making  its  way  from  the  neighboring  shores  of 
Yucatan.  On  reaching  the  island,  one  of  the  men  in 
quired,  in  broken  Castilian,  "if  he  were  among  Chris 
tians,"  and,  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  threw 
himself  on  his  knees  and  returned  thanks  to  Heaven 
for  his  delivery.  He  was  one  of  the  unfortunate  cap 
tives  for  whose  fate  so  much  interest  had  been  felt. 
His  name  was  Geronimo  de  Aguilar,  a  native  of  Ecija, 
in  Old  Spain,  where  he  had  been  regularly  educated  for 
the  church.  He  had  been  established  with  the  colony 
at  Darien,  and  [on  a  voyage  from  that  place  to  Hispa- 
niola,  eight  years  previous,  was  wrecked  near  the  coast 
of  Yucatan.  He  escaped  with  several  of  his  com 
panions  in  the  ship's  boat,  where  some  perished  from 
hunger  and  exposure,  while  others  were  sacrificed,  on 
their  reaching  land,  by  the  cannibal  natives  of  the 
peninsula.  Aguilar  was  preserved  from  the  same  dis 
mal  fate  by  escaping  into  the  interior,  where  he  fell 
into  the  hands  of  a  powerful  cacique,  who,  though  he 
spared  his  life,  treated  him  at  first  with  great  rigor, 

6  "  Muy  gran  mistcrio  y  milagro  de  Dios."     Carta  de  Vera  Cruz, 
MS. 


272  DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 

The  patience  of  the  captive,  however,  and  his  singular 
humility,  touched  the  better  feelings  of  the  chief 
tain,  who  would  have  persuaded  Aguilar  to  take  a  wife 
among  his  people,  but  the  ecclesiastic  steadily  refused, 
in  obedience  to  his  vows.  This  admirable  constancy 
excited  the  distrust  of  the  cacique,  who  put  his  virtue 
to  a  severe  test  by  various  temptations,  and  much  of 
the  same  sort  as  those  with  which  the  Devil  is  said  to 
have  assailed  St.  Anthony.7  From  all  these  fiery  trials, 
however,  like  his  ghostly  predecessor,  he  came  out  un- 
scorched.  Continence  is  too  rare  and  difficult  a  virtue 
with  barbarians,  not  to  challenge  their  veneration,  and 
the  practice  of  it  has  made'  the  reputation  of  more  than 
one  saint  in  the  Old  as  well  as  the  New  World.  Agui 
lar  was  now  intrusted  with  the  care  of  his  master's 
household  and  his  numerous  wives.  He  was  a  man  of 
discretion,  as  well  as  virtue ;  and  his  counsels  were 
found  so  salutary  that  he  was  consulted  on  all  im 
portant  matters.  In  short,  Aguilar  became  a  great 
man  among  the  Indians. 

It  was  with  much  regret,  therefore,  that  his  master 
received  the  proposals  for  his  return  to  his  country 
men,  to  which  nothing  but  the  rich  treasure  of  glass 
beads,  hawk-bells,  and  other  jewels  of  like  value,  sent 
for  his  ransom,  would  have  induced  him  to  consent. 
When  Aguilar  reached  the  coast,  there  had  been  so 
much  delay  that  the  brigantines  had  sailed  ;  and  it  was 

7  They  are  enumerated  by  Herrera  with  a  minuteness  which  may 
claim  at  least  the  merit  of  giving  a  much  higher  notion  of  Aguilar's 
virtue  than  the  barren  generalities  of  the  text.  (Hist,  general,  dec.  2, 
lib.  4,  cap.  6-8.)  The  story  is  prettily  told  by  Washington  Irving, 
Voyages  and  Discoveries  of  the  Companions  of  Columbus  (London, 
)>  P-  263,  et  seq. 


GERONIMO    DE    AGUILAR.  273 

owing  to  the  fortunate  return  of  the  fleet  to  Cozumel 
that  he  was  enabled  to  join  it. 

On  appearing  before  Cortes,  the  poor  man  saluted 
him  in  the  Indian  style,  by  touching  the  earth  with 
his  hand  and  carrying  it  to  his  head.  The  commander, 
raising  him  up,  affectionately  embraced  him,  covering 
him  at  the  same  time  with  his  own  cloak,  as  Aguilar 
was  simply  clad  in  the  habiliments  of  the  country, 
somewhat  too  scanty  for  a  European  eye.  It  was  long, 
indeed,  before  the  tastes  which  he  had  acquired  in  the 
freedom  of  the  forest  could  be  reconciled  to  the  con 
straints  either  of  dress  or  manners  imposed  by  the  arti 
ficial  forms  of  civilization.  Aguilar's  long  residence 
in  the  country  had  familiarized  him  with  the  Mayan 
dialects  of  Yucatan,  and,  as  he  gradually  revived  his 
Castilian,  he  became  of  essential  importance  as  an 
interpreter.  Cortes  saw  the  advantage  of  this  from 
the  first,  but  he  could  not  fully  estimate  all  the  con 
sequences  that  were  to  flow  from  it.8 

The  repairs  of  the  vessels  being  at  length  completed, 
the  Spanish  commander  once  more  took  leave  of  the 
friendly  natives  of  Cozumel,  and  set  sail  on  the  4th  of 
March.  Keeping  as  near  as  possible  to  the  coast  of 
Yucatan,  he  doubled  Cape  Catoche,  and  with  flowing 
sheets  swept  down  the  broad  bay  of  Campeachy,  fringed 
with  the  rich  dye-woods  which  have  since  furnished  so 
important  an  article  of  commerce  to  Europe.  He 
passed  Potonchan,  where  Cordova  had  experienced  a 

8  Camargo,  Historia  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  i. — Martyr,  De  Insulis,  p.  347. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist, 
de  la  Conquista,  cap.  29. — Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Las  Casas, 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  115,  116. 
M* 


274  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

rough  reception  from  the  natives ;  and  soon  after 
reached  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  de  Tabasco,  or  Grijalva, 
in  which  that  navigator  had  carried  on  so  lucrative  a 
traffic.  Though  mindful  of  the  great  object  of  his 
voyage, — the  visit  to  the  Aztec  territories, — he  was 
desirous  of  acquainting  himself  with  the  resources  of 
this  country,  and  determined  to  ascend  the  river  and 
visit  the  great  town  on  its  borders. 

The  water  was  so  shallow,  from  the  accumulation  of 
sand  at  the  mouth  of  the  stream,  that  the  general  was 
obliged  to  leave  the  ships  at  anchor  and  to  embark  in 
the  boats  with  a  part  only  of  his  forces.  The  banks 
were  thickly  studded  with  mangrove-trees,  that,  with 
their  roots  shooting  up  and  interlacing  one  another, 
formed  a  kind  of  impervious  screen  or  net-work,  be 
hind  which  the  dark  forms  of  the  natives  were  seen 
glancing  to  and  fro  with  the  most  menacing  looks  and 
gestures.  Cortes,  much  surprised  at  these  unfriendly 
demonstrations,  so  unlike  what  he  had  had  reason  to 
expect,  moved  cautiously  up  the  stream.  When  he 
had  reached  an  open  place,  where  a  large  number  of 
Indians  were  assembled,  he  asked,  through  his  inter 
preter,  leave  to  land,  explaining  at  the  same  time  his 
amicable  intentions.  But  the  Indians,  brandishing  their 
\veapons,  answered  only  with  gestures  of  angry  defiance. 
Though  much  chagrined,  Cortes  thought  it  best  not  to 
urge  the  matter  further  that  evening,  but  withdrew  to  a 
neighboring  island,  where  he  disembarked  his  troops, 
resolved  to  effect  a  landing  on  the  following  morning. 

When  day  broke,  the  Spaniards  saw  the  opposite 
banks  lined  with  a  much  more  numerous  array  than 
on  the  preceding  evening,  while  the  canoes  along  the 


ARMY  ARRIVES   AT    TABASCO.  275 

shore  were  filled  with  bands  of  armed  warriors.  Cortes 
now  made  his  preparations  for  the  attack.  He  first 
landed  a  detachment  of  a  hundred  men  under  Alonso 
de  Avila,  at  a  point  somewhat  lower  down  the  stream, 
sheltered  by  a  thick  grove  of  palms,  from  which  a  roadp 
as  he  knew,  led  to  the  town  of  Tabasco,  giving  orders 
to  his  officer  to  march  at  once  on  the  place,  while  he 
himself  advanced  to  assault  it  in  front.9 

Then,  embarking  the  remainder  of  his  troops,  Cortes 
crossed  the  river  in  face  of  the  enemy ;  but,  before 
commencing  hostilities,  that  he  might  "act  with  entire 
regard  to  justice,  and  in  obedience  to  the  instructions 
of  the  Royal  Council,"  I0  he  first  caused  proclamation 
to  be  made,  through  the  interpreter,  that  he  desired 
only  a  free  passage  for  his  men,  and  that  he  proposed 
to  revive  the  friendly  relations  which  had  formerly 
subsisted  between  his  countrymen  and  the  natives.  He 
assured  them  that  if  blood  were  spilt  the  sin  would  lie 
on  their  heads,  and  that  resistance  would  be  useless, 
since  he  was  resolved  at  all  hazards  to  take  up  his 
quarters  that  "night  in  the  town  of  Tabasco.  This  pro 
clamation,  delivered  in  lofty  tone,  and  duly  recorded 
by  the  notary,  was  answered  by  the  Indians — who 
might  possibly  have  comprehended  one  word  in  ten  of 
it — with  shouts  of  defiance  and  a  shower  of  arrows." 

9  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  31. — Carta  de  Vera  Cruz, 
MS. — Gomara,  Cronica,   cap.   18.- — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  118. — Martyr,  De   Insulis,  p.  348. — There  are  some 
discrepancies  between  the  statements  of  Bernal  Diaz  and  the  Letter 
from  Vera  Cruz  ;  both  by  parties  \vho  were  present. 

10  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS.— Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  31. 

11  "  See,"  exclaims  the  Bishop  of  Chiapa,  in  his  caustic  vein,  "  th« 


276  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

Cortes,  having  now  complied  with  all  the  requisitions 
of  a  loyal  cavalier,  and  shifted  the  responsibility  from 
his  own  shoulders  to  those  of  the  Royal  Council, 
brought  his  boats  alongside  of  the  Indian  canoes. 
They  grappled  fiercely  together,  and  both  parties  were 
soon  in  the  water,  which  rose  above  the  girdle.  The 
struggle  was  not  long,  though  desperate.  The  superior 
strength  of  the  Europeans  prevailed,  and  they  forced 
the  enemy  back  to  land.  Here,  however,  they  were 
supported  by  their  countrymen,  who  showered  down 
darts,  arrows,  and  blazing  billets  of  wood  on  the  heads 
of  the  invaders.  The  banks  were  soft  and  slippery, 
and  it  was  with  difficulty  the  soldiers  made  good  their 
footing.  Cortes  lost  a  sandal  in  the  mud,  but  con 
tinued  to  fight  barefoot,  with  great  exposure  of  his  per 
son,  as  the  Indians,  who  soon  singled  out  the  leader, 
called  to  one  another,  "Strike  at  the  chief!'' 

At  length  the  Spaniards  gained  the  bank,  and  were 
able  to  come  into  something  like  order,  when  they 
opened  a  brisk  fire  from  their  arquebuses  and  cross- 
reasonableness  of  this  '  requisition,'  or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  the 
folly  and  insensibility  of  the  Royal  Council,  who  could  find,  in  the  re 
fusal  of  the  Indians  to  receive  it,  a  good  pretext  for  war."  (Hist,  de 
las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  118.)  In  another  place  he  pronounces  an 
animated  invective  against  the  iniquity  of  those  who  covered  up  hos 
tilities  under  this  empty  form  of  words,  the  import  of  which  was  utterly 
incomprehensible  to  the  barbarians.  (Ibid.,  lib.  3,  cap.  57.)  The 
famous  formula,  vised  by  the  Spanish  conquerors  on  this  occasion, 
was  drawn  up  by  Dr.  Palacios  Reubios,  a  man  of  letters,  and  a  mem 
ber  of  the  King's  council.  "  But  I  laugh  at  him  and  his  letters,"  ex 
claims  Oviedo,  "  if  he  thought  a  word  of  it  could  be  comprehended  by 
the  untutored  Indians  !"  (Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  29,  cap.  7.)  The 
regular  Manifesto,  requirimiento,  may  be  found  translated  in  the  con 
cluding  pages  of  Irving's  "  Voyages  of  the  Companions  of  Columbus." 


ARMY  ARRIVES   AT    TABASCO.  277 

bows.  The  enemy,  astounded  by  the  roar  and  flash 
of  the  fire-arms,  of  which  they  had  had  no  experience, 
fell  back,  and  retreated  behind  a  breast-work  of  timber 
thrown  across  the  way.  The  Spaniards,  hot  in  the  pur 
suit,  soon  carried  these  rude  defences,  and  drove  the 
Tabascans  before  them  towards  the  town,  where  they 
again  took  shelter  behind  their  palisades. 

Meanwhile  Avila  had  arrived  from  the  opposite 
quarter,  and  the  natives,  taken  by  surprise,  made  no 
further  attempt  at  resistance,  but  abandoned  the  place 
to  the  Christians.  They  had  previously  removed  their 
families  and  effects.  Some  provisions  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  victors,  but  little  gold,  "a  circumstance," 
says  Las  Casas,  ' '  which  gave  them  no  particular  satis 
faction."  I2  It  was  a  very  populous  place.  The  houses 
were  mostly  of  mud ;  the  better  sort  of  stone  and 
lime ;  affording  proofs  in  the  inhabitants  of  a  superior 
refinement  to  that  found  in  the  Islands,  as  their  stout 
resistance  had  given  evidence  of  superior  valor."13 

12  "  Halldronlas  llenas  de  maiz  e  gallinas  y  otros  vastimentos,  oro 
ninguno,  de  lo  que  ellos  no  rescivieron  mucho  plazer."  Hist,  de  las 
Indias,  MS.,  ubi  supra. 

J3  Peter  Martyr  gives  a  glowing  picture  of  this  Indian  capital.  "  Ad 
fluminis  ripam  protentum  dicunt  esse  oppidum,  quantum  non  ausim 
clicere  :  mille  quingentorum  passuum,  ait  Alaminus  nauclerus,  et  do- 
morum  quinque  ac  viginti  millium  :  stringunt  alij,  ingens  tamen  faten- 
tur  et  celebre.  Hortis  intersecantur  domus,  quae  sunt  egregie  lapidi- 
bus  et  calce  fabrefactcB,  maxima  industria  et  architectorum  arte."  (De 
Insulis,  p.  349.)  With  his  usual  inquisitive  spirit,  he  gleaned  all  the 
particulars  from  the  old  pilot  Alaminos,  and  from  two  of  the  officers 
of  Cortes  who  revisited  Spain  in  the  course  of  that  year.  Tabasco 
was  in  the  neighborhood  of  those  ruined  cities  of  Yucatan  which  have 
lately  been  the  theme  of  so  much  speculation.  The  encomiums  of 
Martyr  are  not  so  remarkable  as  the  apathy  of  other  contemporary 
chroniclers. 

VOL.  I.  24 


278  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

Cortes,  having  thus  made  himself  master  of  the  town, 
took  formal  possession  of  it  for  the  crown  of  Castile. 
He  gave  three  cuts  with  his  sword  on  a  large  cciba-\xz& 
which  grew  in  the  place,  and  proclaimed  aloud  that 
he  took  possession  of  the  city  in  the  name  and  behalf 
of  the  Catholic  sovereigns,  and  would  maintain  and 
defend  the  same  with  sword  and  buckler  against  all 
who  should  gainsay  it.  The  same  vaunting  declaration 
was  also  made  by  the  soldiers,  and  the  whole  was  duly 
recorded  and  attested  by  the  notary.  This  was  the 
usual  simple  but  chivalric  form  with  which  the  Spanish 
cavaliers  asserted  the  royal  title  to  the  conquered  terri 
tories  in  the  New  World.  It  was  a  good  title,  doubt 
less,  against  the  claims  of  any  other  European  potentate. 

The  general  took  up  his  quarters  that  night  in  the 
court-yard  of  the  principal  temple.  He  posted  his  sen 
tinels,  and  took  all  the  precautions  practised  in  wars 
with  a  civilized  foe.  Indeed,  there  was  reason  for 
them.  A  suspicious  silence  seemed  to  reign  through 
the  place  and  its  neighborhood ;  and  tidings  were 
brought  that  the  interpreter,  Melchorejo,  had  fled, 
leaving  his  Spanish  dress  hanging  on  a  tree.  Cortes 
was  disquieted  by  the  desertion  of  this  man,  who  would 
not  only  inform  his  countrymen  of  the  small  number 
of  the  Spaniards,  but  dissipate  any  illusions  that  might 
be  entertained  of  their  superior  natures. 

On  the  following  morning,  as  no  traces  of  the  enemy 
were  visible,  Cortes  ordered  out  a  detachment  under 
Alvarado,  and  another  under  Francisco  de  Luio,  to 
reconnoitre.  The  latter  officer  had  not  advanced  a 
league,  before  he  learned  the  position  of  the  Indians, 
by  their  attacking  him  in  such  force  that  he  was  fain 


ARMY  ARRIVES   AT    TABASCO.  279 

to  take  shelter  in  a  large  stone  building,  where  he 
was  closely  besieged.  Fortunately,  the  loud  yells  of 
the  assailants,  like  most  barbarous  nations  seeking  to 
strike  terror  by  their  ferocious  cries,  reached  the  ears 
of  Alvarado  and  his  men,  who,  speedily  advancing 
to  the  relief  of  their  comrades,  enabled  them  to  force 
a  passage  through  the  enemy.  Both  parties  retreated, 
closely  pursued,  on  the  town,  when  Cortes,  marching 
out  to  their  support,  compelled  the  Tabascans  to 
retire. 

A  few  prisoners  were  taken  in  this  skirmish.  By 
them  Cortes  found  his  worst  apprehensions  verified. 
The  country  was  everywhere  in  arms.  A  force  con 
sisting  of  many  thousands  had  assembled  from  the 
neighboring  provinces,  and  a  general  assault  was  re 
solved  on  for  the  next  day.  To  the  general's  inquiries 
why  he  had  been  received  in  so  different  a  manner 
from  his  predecessor,  Grijalva,  they  answered  that 
"the  conduct  of  the  Tabascans  then  had  given  great 
offence  to  the  other  Indian  tribes,  who  taxed  them  with 
treachery  and  cowardice ;  so  that  they  had  promised, 
on  any  return  of  the  white  men,  to  resist  them  in  the 
same  manner  as  their  neighbors  had  done."  H 

Cortes  might  now  well  regret  that  he  had  allowed 
himself  to  deviate  from  the  direct  object  of  his  enter 
prise,  and  to  become  entangled  in  a  doubtful  war 
which  could  lead  to  no  profitable  result.  But  it  was 
too  late  to  repent.  He  had  taken  the  step,  and  had 
no  alternative  but  to  go  forward.  To  retreat  would 

T*  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap,  31,  32. — Gomara, 
Cronica,  cap.  18. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap. 
118,  119. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  78,  79. 


28o  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

dishearten  his  own  men  at  the  outset,  impair  their 
confidence  in  him  as  their  leader,  and  confirm  the 
arrogance  of  his  foes,  the  tidings  of  whose  success 
might  precede  him  on  his  voyage  and  prepare  the  way 
for  greater  mortifications  and  defeats.  He  did  not 
hesitate  as  to  the  course  he  was  to  pursue,  but,  calling 
his  officers  together,  announced  his  intention  to  give 
battle  the  following  morning.13 

He  sent  back  to  the  vessels  such  as  were  disabled  by 
their  wounds,  and  ordered  the  remainder  of  the  forces 
to  join  the  camp.  Six  of  the  heavy  guns  were  also 
taken  from  the  ships,  together  with  all  the  horses.  The 
animals  were  stiff  and  torpid  from  long  confinement 
on  board ;  but  a  few  hours'  exercise  restored  them  to 
their  strength  and  usual  spirit.  He  gave  the  command 
of  the  artillery — if  it  may  be  dignified  with  the  name — to 
a  soldier  named  Mesa,  who  had  acquired  some  experi 
ence  as  an  engineer  in  the  Italian  wars.  The  infantry 
he  put  under  the  orders  of  Diego  de  Ordaz,  and  took 
charge  of  the  cavalry  himself.  It  consisted  of  some 
of  the  most  valiant  gentlemen  of  his  little  band, 
among  whom  may  be  mentioned  Alvarado,  Velasquez 
de  Leon,  Avila,  Puertocarrero,  Olid,  Montejo.  Having 
thus  made  all  the  necessary  arrangements,  and  settled 
his  plan  of  battle,  he  retired  to  rest, — but  not  to 
slumber.  His  feverish  mind,  as  may  well  be  imagined, 
was  filled  with  anxiety  for  the  morrow,  which  might 
decide  the  fate  of  his  expedition ;  and,  as  was  his 

T5  According  to  Solis,  who  quotes  the  address  of  Cortes  on  the  occa 
sion,  he  summoned  a  council  of  his  captains  to  advise  him  as  to  the 
course  he  should  pursue.  (Conquista,  cap.  19.)  It  is  possible,  but 
I  find  no  warrant  for  it  anywhere. 


PREPARATION  FOR    BATTLE.  281 

wont  on  such  occasions,  he  was  frequently  observed, 
during  the  night,  going  the  rounds,  and  visiting  the 
sentinels,  to  see  that  no  one  slept  upon  his  post. 

At  the  first  glimmering  of  light  he  mustered  his 
army,  and  declared  his  purpose  not  to  abide,  cooped 
up  in  the  town,  the  assault  of  the  enemy,  but  to  march 
at  once  against  him.  For  he  well  knew  that  the  spirits 
rise  with  action,  and  that  the  attacking  party  gathers  a 
confidence  from  the  very  movement,  which  is  not  felt 
by  the  one  who  is  passively,  perhaps  anxiously,  await 
ing  the  assault.  The  Indians  were  understood  to  be 
encamped  on  a  level  ground  a  few  miles  distant  from 
the  city,  called  the  plain  of  Ceutla.  The  general 
commanded  that  Ordaz  should  march  with  the  foot, 
including  the  artillery,  directly  across  the  country,  and 
attack  them  in  front,  while  he  himself  would  fetch  a 
circuit  with  the  horse,  and  turn  their  flank  when  thus 
engaged,  or  fall  upon  their  rear. 

These  dispositions  being  completed,  the  little  army 
heard  mass  and  then  sallied  forth  from  the  wooden 
walls  of  Tabasco.  It  was  Lady-day,  the  twenty-fifth  of 
March, — long  memorable  in  the  annals  of  New  Spain. 
The  district  around  the  town  was  checkered  with 
patches  of  maize,  and,  on  the  lower  level,  with  plan 
tations  of  cacao, — supplying  the  beverage,  and  per 
haps  the  coin,  of  the  country,  as  in  Mexico.  These 
plantations,  requiring  constant  irrigation,  were  fed  by 
numerous  canals  and  reservoirs  of  water,  so  that  the 
country  could  not  be  traversed  without  great  toil  and 
difficulty.  It  was,  however,  intersected  by  a  narrow  path 
or  causeway  over  which  the  cannon  could  be  dragged. 

The  troops  advanced  more  than  a  league  on  their 
24* 


282  DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 

laborious  march,  without  descrying  the  enemy.  The 
weather  was  sultry,  but  few  of  them  were  embarrassed 
by  the  heavy  mail  worn  by  the  European  cavaliers  at 
that  period.  Their  cotton  jackets,  thickly  quilted, 
afforded  a  tolerable  protection  against  the  arrows  of 
the  Indians,  and  allowed  room  for  the  freedom  and 
activity  of  movement  essential  to  a  life  of  rambling 
adventure  in  the  wilderness. 

At  length  they  came  in  sight  of  the  broad  plains  of 
Ceutla,  and  beheld  the  dusky  lines  of  the  enemy  stretch 
ing,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  along  the  edge  of 
the  horizon.  The  Indians  had  shown  some  sagacity  in 
the  choice  of  their  position ;  and,  as  the  weary  Span 
iards  came  slowly  on,  floundering  through  the  morass, 
the  Tabascans  set  up  their  hideous  battle-cries,  and 
discharged  volleys  of  arrows,  stones,  and  other  missiles, 
which  rattled  like  hail  on  the  shields  and  helmets  of 
the  assailants.  Many  were  severely  wounded  before 
they  could  gain  the  firm  ground,  where  they  soon 
cleared  a  space  for  themselves,  and  opened  a  heavy 
fire  of  artillery  and  musketry  on  the  dense  columns 
of  the  enemy,  which  presented  a  fatal  mark  for  the 
balls.  Numbers  were  swept  down  at  every  discharge  ; 
but  the  bold  barbarians,  far  from  being  dismayed, 
threw  up  dust  and  leaves  to  hide  their  losses,  and, 
sounding  their  war-instruments,  shot  off  fresh  flights 
of  arrows  in  return. 

They  even  pressed  closer  on  the  Spaniards,  and,  when 
driven  off  by  a  vigorous  charge,  soon  turned  again, 
and,  rolling  back  like  the  waves  of  the  ocean,  seemed 
ready  to  overwhelm  the  little  band  by  weight  of  num 
bers.  Thus  cramped,  the  latter  had  scarcely  room  to 


GREAT   BATTLE    WITH    THE    INDIANS.     283 

perform   their   necessary  evolutions,   or  even  to  work 
their  guns  with  effect.16 

The  engagement  had  now  lasted  more  than  an  hour, 
and  the  Spaniards,  sorely  pressed,  looked  with  great 
anxiety  for  the  arrival  of  the  horse — which  some  un 
accountable  impediments  must  have  detained — to  re 
lieve  them  from  their  perilous  position.  At  this  crisis, 
the  farthest  columns  of  the  Indian  army  were  seen  to 
be  agitated  and  thrown  into  a  disorder  that  rapidly 
spread  through  the  whole  mass.  It  was  not  long  before 
the  ears  of  the  Christians  were  saluted  with  the  cheer 
ing  war-cry  of  "  San  Jago  and  San  Pedro  !"  and  they 
beheld  the  bright  helmets  and  swords  of  the  Castilian 
chivalry  flashing  back  the  rays  of  the  morning  sun,  as 
they  dashed  through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  striking 
to  the  right  and  left,  and  scattering  dismay  around 
them.  The  eye  of  faith,  indeed,  could  discern  the 
patron  Saint  of  Spain,  himself,  mounted  on  his  gray 
war-horse,  heading  the  rescue  and  trampling  over  the 
bodies  of  the  fallen  infidels  V7 

'6  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  119.— Gomara,  Cro- 
nica,  cap.  19,  20. — Herrera,  Hist,  gen.,  dec.  2,  lib.  4,  cap.  n. — Martyr, 
De  Insulis,  p.  350. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  79. — Bernal 
Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  33,  36. — Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. 

17  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  79. — "  Cortes  supposed  it 
was  his  own  tutelar  saint,  St.  Peter,"  says  Pizarro  y  Orellana ;  "but 
the  common  and  indubitable  opinion  is  that  it  was  our  glorious  apostle 
St.  James,  the  bulwark  and  safeguard  of  our  nation."  (Varones 
ilustres,  p.  73.)  "  Sinner  that  I  am,"  exclaims  honest  Bernal  Diaz, 
in  a  more  skeptical  vein,  "  it  was  not  permitted  to  me  to  see  either 
the  one  or  the  other  of  the  Apostles  on  this  occasion."  Hist,  de  la 
Conquista,  cap.  34.* 

*  [The  remark  of  Bernal  Diaz  is  not  to  be  taken  as  ironical.  His 
faith  in  the  same  vision  on  subsequent  occasions  is  expressed  without 


284  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

The  approach  of  Cortes  had  been  greatly  retarded 
by  the  broken  nature  of  the  ground.  When  he  came 
up,  the  Indians  were  so  hotly  engaged  that  he  was  upon 
them  before  they  observed  his  approach.  He  ordered 
his  men  to  direct  their  lances  at  the  faces  of  their 
opponents,18  who,  terrified  at  the  monstrous  apparition, 
—for  they  supposed  the  rider  and  the  horse,  which 
they  had  never  before  seen,  to  be  one  and  the  same,19 
—were  seized  with  a  panic.  Ordaz  availed  himself  of 
it  to  command  a  general  charge  along  the  line,  and  the 
Indians,  many  of  them  throwing  away  their  arms,  fled 
without  attempting  further  resistance. 

18  It  was  the  order — as  the  reader  may  remember — given  by  Ccesar 
to  his  followers  in  his  battle  with  Pompey : 

"  Adversosque  jubet  ferro  confundere  vultus." 

LUCAN,  Pharsalia,  lib.  7,  v.  575. 

J9  "  Equites,"  says  Paolo  Giovio,  "  unum  integrum  Centaurorum 
specie  animal  esse  existimarent."  Elogia  Virorum  Illustrium  (Basil, 
1696),  lib.  6,  p.  229. 

demur.  In  the  present  case  he  recognized  the  rider  of  the  gray  horse  as 
a  Spanish  cavalier,  Francisco  de  Morla.  It  appears  from  the  account 
of  Andres  de  Tapia,  another  companion  of  Cortes,  whose  narrative  has 
been  recently  published,  that,  owing  to  canals  and  other  impediments, 
the  cavalry  was  unable  to  effect  the  intended  detour,  and  it  therefore 
returned  and  joined  the  infantry.  The  latter,  meanwhile,  having  seen  a 
cavalier  on  a  gray  horse  charging  the  Indians  in  their  rear,  supposed 
that  the  cavalry  had  penetrated  to  that  quarter.  Cortes,  on  hearing 
this,  exclaimed,  "  Adelante,  companeros,  que  Dios  es  con  nosotros," 
( Icazbalceta,  Col.  de  Doc.  para  la  Hist,  de  Mexico,  torn,  i.)  T£pia  says 
nothing  about  St.  James  or  St.  Peter,  and  perhaps  suspected  that  the 
incident  was  a  ruse  contrived  by  Cortes.  Generally,  however,  such 
legends  seem  to  be  sufficiently  explained  by  the  religious  belief  and 
excited  imagination  of  the  narrators.  See  the  remarks,  on  this  point, 
of  Macaulay,  who  notices  the  account  of  Diaz,  in  the  introduction  to 
his  lay  of  the  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus. — ED.] 


GREAT   BATTLE    WITH    THE    INDIANS.     285 

Cortes  was  too  content  with  the  victory  to  care  to 
follow  it  up  by  dipping  his  sword  in  the  blood  of  the 
fugitives.  He  drew  off  his  men  to  a  copse  of  palms 
which  skirted  the  place,  and  under  their  broad  canopy 
the  soldiers  offered  up  thanksgivings  to  the  Almighty 
for  the  victory  vouchsafed  them.  The  field  of  battle 
was  made  the  site  of  a  town,  called,  in  honor  of  the 
day  on  which  the  action  took  place,  Santa  Maria  de  la 
Victoria,  long  afterwards  the  capital  of  the  province.20 
The  number  of  those  who  fought  or  fell  in  the  engage 
ment  is  altogether  doubtful.  Nothing,  indeed,  is  more 
uncertain  than  numerical  estimates  of  barbarians.  An4 
they  gain  nothing  in  probability  when  they  come,  as 
in  the  present  instance,  from  the  reports  of  their 
enemies.  Most  accounts,  however,  agree  that  the 
Indian  force  consisted  of  five  squadrons  of  eight 
thousand  men  each.  There  is  more  discrepancy  as  to 
the  number  of  slain,  varying  from  one  to  thirty  thou 
sand  !  In  this  monstrous  discordance,  the  common 
disposition  to  exaggerate  may  lead  us  to  look  for  truth 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  smallest  number.  The 
loss  of  the  Christians  wras  inconsiderable  j  not  exceed 
ing — if  we  receive  their  own  reports,  probably,  from 
the  same  causes,  much  diminishing  the  truth — two 
killed  and  less  than  a  hundred  wounded  !  We  may 
readily  comprehend  the  feelings  of  the  Conquerors, 
when  they  declared  that  "Heaven  must  have  fought 
on  their  side,  since  their  own  strength  could  never 
have  prevailed  against  such  a  multitude  of  enemies  !"  2I 

20  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  iii.  p.  n. 

21  "  Crean   Vras.    Realcs  Altezas  por  cierto,  que  esta  batalla  fue 
vencida  mas  por  voluntad  de  Dios  que  por  nras.  fuerzas,  porque  para 


286  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

Several  prisoners  were  taken  in  the  battle,  among 
them  two  chiefs.  Cortes  gave  them  their  liberty,  and 
sent  a  message  by  them  to  their  countrymen  ''that 
he  would  overlook  the  past,  if  they  would  come  in 
at  once  and  tender  their  submission.  Otherwise  he 
would  ride  over  the  land,  and  put  every  living  thing 
in  it,  man,  woman,  and  child,  to  the  sword!"  With 
this  formidable  menace  ringing  in  their  ears,  the  envoys 
departed. 

But  the  Tabascans  had  no  relish  for  further  hostil 
ities.  A  body  of  inferior  chiefs  appeared  the  next 
day,  clad  in  dark  dresses  of  cotton,  intimating  their 
abject  condition,  and  implored  leave  to  bury  their 
dead.  It  was  granted  by  the  general,  with  many 
assurances  of  his  friendly  disposition ;  but  at  the  same 
time  he  told  them  he  expected  their  principal  caciques, 
as  he  would  treat  with  none  other.  These  soon  pre 
sented  themselves,  attended  by  a  numerous  train  of  vas 
sals,  who  followed  with  timid  curiosity  to  the  Christian 
camp.  Among  their  propitiatory  gifts  were  twenty 
female  slaves,  which,  from  the  character  of  one  of 
them,  proved  of  infinitely  more  consequence  than  was 
anticipated  by  either  Spaniards  or  Tabascans.  Con 
fidence  was  soon  restored,  and  was  succeeded  by  a 
friendly  intercourse,  and  the  interchange  of  Spanish 
toys  for  the  rude  commodities  of  the  country,  articles 

con  quarenta  mil  hombres  de  guerra,  poca  defensa  fuera  quatrozientos 
que  nosotros  eramos."  (Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Gomara,  Cronica, 
cap.  20. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  35.)  It  is  Las 
Casas  who,  regulating  his  mathematics,  as  usual,  by  his  feelings,  rates 
the  Indian  loss  at  the  exorbitant  amount  cited  in  the  text.  "  This," 
he  concludes,  dryly,  "  was  the  first  preaching  of  the  gospel  by  Cortes 
in  New  Spain !"  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  119. 


CHRISTIANITY   INTRODUCED.  287 

of  food,  cotton,  and  a  few  gold  ornaments  of  little 
value.  When  asked  where  the  precious  metal  was 
procured,  they  pointed  to  the  west,  and  answered, 
"Culhua,"  "Mexico."  The  Spaniards  saw  this  was 
no  place  for  them  to  traffic,  or  to  tarry  in.  Yet  here, 
they  were  not  many  leagues  distant  from  a  potent  and 
opulent  city,  or  what  once  had  been  so,  the  ancient 
Palenque.  But  its  glory  may  have  even  then  passed 
away,  and  its  name  have  been  forgotten  by  the  sur 
rounding  nations. 

Before  his  departure  the  Spanish  commander  did  not 
omit  to  provide  for  one  great  object  of  his  expedition, 
the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  He  first  represented  to 
the  caciques  that  he  had  been  sent  thither  by  a  power 
ful  monarch  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  for  whom 
he  had  now  a  right  to  claim  their  allegiance.  He 
then  caused  the  reverend  fathers  Olmedo  and  Diaz 
to  enlighten  their  minds,  as  far  as  possible,  in  regard 
to  the  great  truths  of  revelation,  urging  them  to 
receive  these  in  place  of  their  own  heathenish  abomi 
nations.  The  Tabascans,  whose  perceptions  were  no 
doubt  materially  quickened  by  the  discipline  they 
had  undergone,  made  but  a  faint  resistance  to  either 
proposal.  The  next  day  was  Palm  Sunday,  and  the 
general  resolved  to  celebrate  their  conversion  by  one 
of  those  pompous  ceremonials  of  the  Church,  which 
should  make  a  lasting  impression  on  their  minds. 

A  solemn  procession  was  formed  of  the  whole  army, 
with  the  ecclesiastics  at  their  head,  each  soldier  bearing 
a  palm-branch  in  his  hand.  The  concourse  was  swelled 
by  thousands  of  Indians  of  both  sexes,  who  followed 
in  curious  astonishment  at  the  spectacle.  The  long 


288  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

files  bent  their  way  through  the  flowery  savannas  that 
bordered  the  settlement,  to  the  principal  temple,  where 
an  altar  was  raised,  and  the  image  of  the  presiding 
deity  was  deposed  to  make  room  for  that  of  the  Virgin 
with  the  infant  Saviour.  Mass  was  celebrated  by 
Father  Olmedo,  and  the  soldiers  who  were  capable 
joined  in  the  solemn  chant.  The  natives  listened  in 
profound  silence,  and,  if  we  may  believe  the  chronicler 
of  the  event  who  witnessed  it,  were  melted  into  tears ; 
while  their  hearts  were  penetrated  with  reverential 
awe  for  the  God  of  those  terrible  beings  who  seemed 
to  wield  in  their  own  hands  the  thunder  and  the 
lightning.22 

The  Roman  Catholic  communion  has,  it  must  be 
admitted,  some  decided  advantages  over  the  Protestant, 
for  the  purposes  of  proselytism.  The  dazzling  pomp 
of  its  service  and  its  touching  appeal  to  the  sensibili 
ties  affect  the  imagination  of  the  rude  child  of  nature 
much  more  powerfully  than  the  cold  abstractions  of 
Protestantism,  which,  addressed  to  the  reason,  demand 
a  degree  of  refinement  and  mental  culture  in  the  audi 
ence  to  comprehend  them.  The  respect,  moreover, 
shown  by  the  Catholic  for  the  material  representations 
of  Divinity,  greatly  facilitates  the  same  object.  It  is 
true,  such  representations  are  used  by  him  only  as 
incentives,  not  as  the  objects  of  worship.  But  this 
distinction  is  lost  on  the  savage,  who  finds  such  forms 
of  adoration  too  analogous  to  his  own  to  impose  any 
great  violence  on  his  feelings.  It  is  only  required  of 

22  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  21,  22. — Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — 
Martyr,  De  Insulis,  p.  351. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  ubi 
supra. 


CHRISTIANITY  INTRODUCED.  289 

him  to  transfer  his  homage  from  the  image  of  Quetzal- 
coatl,  the  benevolent  deity  who  walked  among  men,  to 
that  of  the  Virgin  or  the  Redeemer ;  from  the  Cross, 
which  he  has  worshipped  as  the  emblem  of  the  god  of 
rain,  to  the  same  Cross,  the  symbol  of  salvation. 

These  solemnities  concluded,  Cortes  prepared  to 
return  to  his  ships,  well  satisfied  with  the  impression 
made  on  the  new  converts,  and  with  the  conquests  he 
had  thus  achieved  for  Castile  and  Christianity.  The 
soldiers,  taking  leave  of  their  Indian  friends,  entered 
the  boats  with  the  palm-branches  in  their  hands,  and, 
descending  the  river,  re-embarked  on  board  their  ves 
sels,  which  rode  at  anchor  at  its  mouth.  A  favorable 
breeze  was  blowing,  and  the  little  navy,  opening  its 
sails  to  .receive  it,  was  soon  on  its  way  again  to  the 
golden  shores  of  Mexico. 


VOL.  I. — N  25 


CHAPTER    V. 

VOYAGE  ALONG  THE  COAST.  -  DONA  MARINA.  -  SPAN 
IARDS  LAND  IN  MEXICO.  -  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE 
AZTECS. 


THE  fleet  held  its  course  so  near  the  shore  that  the 
inhabitants  could  be  seen  on  it  ;  and,  as  it  swept  along 
the  winding  borders  of  the  Gulf,  the  soldiers,  who  had 
been  on  the  former  expedition  with  Grijalva,  pointed 
out  to  their  companions  the  memorable  places  on  the 
coast.  Here  was  the  Rio  de  Alvarado,  named  after  the 
gallant  adventurer,  who  was  present  also  in  this  ex 
pedition  ;  there  the  Rio  de  Vanderas,  in  which  Grijalva 
had  carried  on  so  lucrative  a  commerce  with  the  Mexi 
cans  ;  and  there  the  Is  la  de  los  Sacrificios,  where  the 
Spaniards  first  saw  the  vestiges  of  human  sacrifice  on 
the  coast.  Puertocarrero,  as  he  listened  to  these 
reminiscences  of  the  sailors,  repeated  the  words  of  the 
old  ballad  of  Montesinos,  "  Here  is  France,  there  is 
Paris,  and  there  the  waters  of  the  Duero,"  *  etc.  "  But 

1  "  Cata  Francia,  Montesinos, 
Cata  Paris  la  ciudad, 
Cata  las  aguas  de  Duero 
Do  van  £  dar  en  la  mar." 

They  are  the  words  of  the  popular  old  ballad,  first  published,  I  be 
lieve,  in  the  Romancero  de  Amberes,  and  lately  by  Duran,  Romances 
caballerescos  6  historicos,  Parte  i,  p.  82. 
(290) 


ARRIVAL   AT  SAN  JUAN  DE    ULUA.         291 

I  advise  you,"  he  added,  turning  to  Cortes,  "  to  look 
out  only  for  the  rich  lands,  and  the  best  way  to  govern 
them."  "Fear  not,"  replied  his  commander:  "if 
Fortune  but  favors  me  as  she  did  Orlando,  and  I  have 
such  gallant  gentlemen  as  you  for  my  companions,  I 
shall  understand  myself  very  well."  2 

The  fleet  had  now  arrived  off  San  Juan  de  Ulna,  the 
island  so  named  by  Grijalva.  The  weather  was  tem 
perate  and  serene,  and  crowds  of  natives  were  gathered 
on  the  shore  of  the  main  land,  gazing  at  the  strange 
phenomenon,  as  the  vessels  glided  along  under  easy 
sail  on  the  smooth  bosom  of  the  waters.  It  was  the 
evening  of  Thursday  in  Passion  Week.  The  air  came 
pleasantly  off  the  shore,  and  Cortes,  liking  the  spot, 
thought  he  might  safely  anchor  under  the  lee  of  the 
island,  which  would  shelter  him  from  the  nortcs  that 
sweep  over  these  seas  with  fatal  violence  in  the  winter, 
sometimes  even  late  in  the  spring. 

The  ships  had  not  been  long  at  anchor,  when  a  light 
pirogue,  filled  with  natives,  shot  off  from  the  neighbor 
ing  continent,  and  steered  for  the  general's  vessel,  dis 
tinguished  by  the  royal  ensign  of  Castile  floating  from 
the  mast.  The  Indians  came  on  board  with  a  frank 
confidence,  inspired  by  the  accounts  of  the  Spaniards 
spread  by  their  countrymen  who  had  traded  with  Gri 
jalva.  They  brought  presents  of  fruits  and  flowers  and 
little  ornaments  of  gold,  which  they  gladly  exchanged 
for  the  usual  trinkets.  Cortes  was  baffled  in  his  at 
tempts  to  hold  a  conversation  with  his  visitors  by 
means  of  the  interpreter,  Aguilar,  who  was  ignorant  of 
the  language ;  the  Mayan  dialects,  with  which  he  was 
2  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  37. 


292  DISCOVERY    OF  MEXICO. 

conversant,  bearing  too  little  resemblance  to  the  Aztec. 
The  natives  supplied  the  deficiency,  as  far  as  possible, 
by  the  [uncommon  vivacity  and  significance  of  their 
gestures, — the  hieroglyphics  of  speech ;  but  the  Span 
ish  commander  saw  with  chagrin  the  embarrassments  he 
must  encounter  in  future  for  want  of  a  more  perfect 
medium  of  communication.3  In  this  dilemma,  he  was 
informed  that  one  of  the  female  slaves  given  to  him  by 
the  Tabascan  chiefs  was  a  native  Mexican,  and  under 
stood  the  language.  Her  name — that  given  to  her  by 
the  Spaniards — was  Marina ;  and,  as  she  was  to  exer 
cise  a  most  important  influence  on  their  fortunes,  it 
is  necessary  to  acquaint  the  reader  with  something  of 
her  character  and  history. 

She  was  born  at  Painalla,  in  the  province  of  Coatza- 
cualco,  on  the  southeastern  borders  of  the  Mexican 
empire.  Her  father,  a  rich  and  powerful  cacique,  died 
when  she  was  very  young.  Her  mother  married  again, 
and,  having  a  son,  she  conceived  the  infamous  idea  of 
securing  to  this  offspring  of  her  second  union  Marina's 
rightful  inheritance.  She  accordingly  feigned  that  the 
latter  was  dead,  but  secretly  delivered  her  into  the 
hands  of  some  itinerant  traders  of  Xicallanco.  She 
availed  herself,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  death  of  a 
child  of  one  of  her  slaves,  to  substitute  the  corpse  for 
that  of  her  own  daughter,  and  celebrated  the  obsequies 
with  mock  solemnity.  These  particulars  are  related 

3  Las  Casas  notices  the  significance  of  the  Indian  gestures  as  imply 
ing  a  most  active  imagination  :  "  Senas  e  meneos  con  que  los  Yndios 
mucho  mas  que  otras  generaciones  entienden  y  se  dan  &  entender, 
por  tener  muy  bivos  los  sentidos  exteriores  y  tambien  los  interiores, 
mayormente  que  es  admirable  su  imaginacion."  Hist,  de  las  In- 
dias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  120. 


DON  A    MARINA. 


293 


by  the  honest  old  soldier  Bernal  Diaz,  who  knew  the 
mother,  and  witnessed  the  generous  treatment  of  her 
afterwards  by  Marina.  By  the  merchants  the  Indian 
maiden  was  again  sold  to  the  cacique  of  Tabasco,  who 
delivered  her,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  Spaniards. 

From  the  place  of  her  birth,  she  was  well  acquainted 
with  the  Mexican  tongue,  which,  indeed,  she  is  said 
to  have  spoken  with  great  elegance.  Her  residence 
in  Tabasco  familiarized  her  with  the  dialects  of  that 
country,  so  that  she  could  carry  on  a  conversation  with 
Aguilar,  which  he  in  turn  rendered  into  the  Castilian. 
Thus  a  certain  though  somewhat  circuitous  channel  was 
opened  to  Cortes  for  communicating  with  the  Aztecs ; 
a  circumstance  of  the  last  importance  to  the  success  of 
his  enterprise.  It  was  not  very  long,  however,  before 
Marina,  who  had  a  lively  genius,  made  herself  so  far 
mistress  of  the  Castilian  as  to  supersede  the  necessity 
of  any  other  linguist.  She  learned  it  the  more  readily, 
as  it  was  to  her  the  language  of  love. 

Cortes,  who  appreciated  the  value  of  her  services 
from  the  first,  made  her  his  interpreter,  then  his  sec 
retary,  and,  won  by  her  charms,  his  mistress.  She  had 
a  son  by  him,  Don  Martin  Cortes,  comendador  of  the 
Military  Order  of  St.  James,  less  distinguished  by  his 
birth  than  his  unmerited  persecutions. 

Marina  was  at  this  time  in  the  morning  of  life.  She 
is  said  to  have  possessed  uncommon  personal  attrac 
tions,4  and  her  open,  expressive  features  indicated  her 

4  "  Hermosa  como  Diosa,"  '  beautiful  as  a  goddess,  says  Camargo 
of  her.  (Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.)  A  modern  poet  pays  her  charms 
the  following  not  inelegant  tribute  : 

"  Admira  tan  lucida  cabalgada 
Y  espectaculo  tal  Dona  Marina, 


294  DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 

generous  temper.  She  always  remained  faithful  to  the 
countrymen  of  her  adoption ;  and  her  knowledge  of 
the  language  and  customs  of  the  Mexicans,  and  often 
of  their  designs,  enabled  her  to  extricate  the  Spaniards, 
more  than  once,  from  the  most  embarrassing  and  peril 
ous  situations.  She  had  her  errors,  as  we  have  seen. 
But  they  should  be  rather  charged  to  the  defects  of 
early  education,  and  to  the  evil  influence  of  him  to 
whom  in  the  darkness  of  her  spirit  she  looked  with 
simple  confidence  for  the  light  to  guide  her.  All  agree 
that  she  was  full  of  excellent  qualities,  and  the  impor 
tant  services  which  she  rendered  the  Spaniards  have 
made  her  memory  deservedly  dear  to  them ;  while  the 
name  of  Malinche5 — the  name  by  which  she  is  still 
known  in  Mexico — was  pronounced  with  kindness  by 
the  conquered  races,  with  whose  misfortunes  she  showed 
an  invariable  sympathy.6 

India  noble  al  caudillo  presentada, 
De  fortuna  y  belleza  peregrina. 

Con  despejado  espiritu  y  viveza 
Gira  la  vista  en  el  concurso  mudo  ; 
Rico  manto  de  extrema  sutileza 
Con  chapas  de  oro  autorizarla  pudo, 
Prendido  con  bizarra  gentileza 
Sobre  los  pechos  en  ayroso  nudo  ; 
Reyna  parece  de  la  Indiana  Zona, 
Varonil  y  hermosisima  Amazona." 

MORATIN,  Las  Naves  de  Cortes  destruidas. 

5  ["  Malinche"   is  a  corruption  of  the  Aztec  word   "  Malintzin," 
which  is  itself  a  corruption  of  the  Spanish  name  "  Marina."     The 
Aztecs,  having  no  r  in  their  alphabet,  substituted  /  for  it,  while  the 
termination  tzin  was  added  in  token  of  respect,  so  that  the  name 
was  equivalent  to  Dona  or  Lady  Marina.     Conquista  de  Mejico  (trad. 
de  Vega,  anotada  por  D.  Lucas  Alaman),  torn.  ii.  pp.  17,  269.] 

6  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,   MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  120. — Gornara, 
Cronica,  cap.  25,  26. — Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  iii.  pp.  12- 


SPANIARDS    LAND    IN  MEXICO.  295 

With  the  aid  of  his  two  intelligent  interpreters, 
Cortes  entered  into  conversation  with  his  Indian  vis 
itors.  He  learned  that  they  were  Mexicans,  or  rather 
subjects  of  the  great  Mexican  empire,  of  which  their 
own  province  formed  one  of  the  comparatively  recent 
conquests.  The  country  was  ruled  by  a  powerful  mon 
arch,  called  Moctheuzoma,  or  by  Europeans  more  com 
monly  Montezuma,7  who  dwelt  on  the  mountain  plains 
of  the  interior,  nearly  seventy  leagues  from  the  coast ; 
their  own  province  was  governed  by  one  of  his  nobles, 
named  Teuhtlile,  whose  residence  was  eight  leagues 
distant.  Cortes  acquainted  them  in  turn  with  his  own 
friendly  views  in  visiting  their  country,  and  with  his 
desire  of  an  interview  with  the  Aztec  governor.  He 
then  dismissed  them  loaded  with  presents,  having  first 
ascertained  that  ^there  was  abundance  of  gold  in  the 
interior,  like  the  specimens  they  had  brought. 

Cortes,  pleased  with  the  manners  of  the  people  and 
the  goodly  reports  of  the  land,  resolved  to  take  up  his 
quarters  here  for  the  present.  The  next  morning,  April 
21,  being  Good  Friday,  he  landed,  with  all  his  force, 

14. — Ovicdo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  i. — Ixtlilxochitl, 
Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  79. — Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Bernal 
Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  37,  38. — There  is  some  discordance  in 
the  notices  of  the  early  life  of  Marina.  I  have  followed  Bernal  Diaz, — 
from  his  means  of  observation,  the  best  authority.  There  is  happily 
no  difference  in  the  estimate  of  her  singular  merits  and  services. 

7  The  name  of  the  Aztec  monarch,  like  those  of  most  persons  and 
places  in  New  Spain,  has  been  twisted  into  all  possible  varieties  of 
orthography.  Cortes,  in  his  letters,  calls  him  "  Muteczuma."  Modern 
Spanish  historians  usually  spell  his  name  "  Motezuma."  I  have  pre 
ferred  to  conform  to  the  name  by  which  he  is  usually  known  to  English 
readers.  It  is  the  one  adopted  by  Bernal  Diaz,  and  by  most  writers 
near  the  time  of  the  Conquest.  Alaman,  Disertaciones  historicas,, 
torn,  i.,  apend.  2. 


296  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO, 

on  the  very  spot  where  now  stands  the  modern  city 
of  Vera  Cruz.  Little  did  the  Conqueror  imagine  that 
the  desolate  beach  on  which  he  first  planted  his  foot 
was  one  day  to  be  covered  by  a  flourishing  city,  the 
great  mart  of  European  and  Oriental  trade,  the  com 
mercial  capital  of  New  Spain.8 

It  was  a  wide  and  level  plain,  except  where  the  sand 
had  been  drifted  into  hillocks  by  the  perpetual  blow 
ing  of  the  norte.  On  these  sand-hills  he  Amounted  his 
little  battery  of  guns,  so  as  to  give  him  the  command  of 
the  country.  He  then  employed  the  troops  in  cutting 
down  small  trees  and  bushes  which  grew  near,  in  order 
to  provide  a  shelter  from  the  weather.  In  this  he  was 
aided  by  the  people  of  the  country,  sent,  as  it  appeared, 
by  the  governor  of  the  district  to  assist  the  Spaniards. 
With  their  help  stakes  were  firmly  set  in  the  earth,  and 
covered  with  boughs,  and  with  mats  and  cotton  car 
pets,  which  the  friendly  natives  brought  with  them.  In 
this  way  they  secured,  in  a  couple  of  days,  a  good 
defence  against  the  scorching  rays  of  the  sun,  which 
beat  with  intolerable  fierceness  on  the  sands.  The  place 
was  surrounded  by  stagnant  marshes,  the.  exhalations 
from  which,  quickened  by  the  heat  into  the  pestilent 
malaria,  have  occasioned  in  later  times  wider  mortality 
to  Europeans  than  all  the  hurricanes  on  the  coast.  The 
bilious  disorders,  now  the  terrible  scourge  of  the  ticrra 
caliente,  were  little  known  before  the  Conquest.  The 

8  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  79.— Clavigero,  Stor.  del 
Messico,  torn.  iii.  p.  16. — New  Vera  Cruz,  as  the  present  town  is  called, 
is  distinct,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  from  that  established  by  Cortes, 
and  was  not  founded  till  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  by  the 
Conde  de  Monterey,  Viceroy  of  Mexico.  It  received  its  privileges 
as  a  city  from  Philip  111.  in  1615.  Ibid.,  torn.  iii.  p.  30,  nota. 


INTERVIEW  WITH    THE    AZTECS.  297 

seeds  of  the  poison  seem  to  have  been  scattered  by  the 
hand  of  civilization ;  for  it  is  only  necessary  to  settle 
a  town,  and  draw  together  a  busy  European  population, 
in  order  to  call  out  the  malignity  of  the  venom  which 
had  before  lurked  innoxious  in  the  atmosphere.9 

While  these  arrangements  were  in  progress,  the  na 
tives  flocked  in  from  the  adjacent  district,  which  was 
tolerably  populous  in  the  interior,  drawn  by  a  natural 
curiosity  to  see  the  wonderful  strangers.  They  brought 
with  them  fruits,  vegetables,  flowers  in  abundance, 
game,  and  many  dishes  cooked  after  the  fashion  of  the 
country,  with  little  articles  of  gold  and  other  orna 
ments.  They  gave  away  some  as  presents,  and  bar 
tered  others  for  the  wares  of  the  Spaniards;  so  that 
the  camp,  crowded  with  a  motley  throng  of  every  age 
and  sex,  wore  the  appearance  of  a  fair.  From  some 
of  the  visitors  Cortes  learned  the  intention  of  the 
governor  to  wait  on  him  the  following  day. 

This  was  Easter.  Teuhtlile  arrived,  as  he  had  an 
nounced,  before  noon.  He  was  attended  by  a  numer 
ous  train,  and  was  met  by  Cortes,  who  conducted  him 

9  The  epidemic  of  the  matlazahuatl,  so  fatal  to  the  Aztecs,  is  shown 
by  M.  de  Humboldt  to  have  been  essentially  different  from  the  vomito, 
or  bilious  fever  of  our  day.  Indeed,  this  disease  is  not  noticed  by  the 
early  conquerors  and  colonists,  and,  Clavigero  asserts,  was  not  known 
in  Mexico  till  1725.  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  117,  nota.)  Hum 
boldt,  however,  arguing  that  the  same  physical  causes  must  have 
produced  similar  results,  carries  the  disease  back  to  a  much  higher 
antiquity,  of  which  he  discerns  some  traditional  and  historic  vestiges. 
"  II  ne  faut  pas  confondre  1'epoque,"  he  remarks,  with  his  usual  pen 
etration,  "  a  laquelle  une  maladie  a  ete  decrite  pour  la  premiere  fois, 
parce  qu'elle  a  fait  de  grands  ravages  dans  un  court  espace  de  temps, 
avec  1'epoque  de  sa  premiere  apparition."  Essai  politique,  torn.  iv. 
p.  161  et  scq.,  and  179. 
N* 


298  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

with  much  ceremony  to  his  tent,  where  his  principal 
officers  were  assembled.  The  Aztec  chief  returned 
their  salutations  with  polite  though  formal  courtesy. 
Mass  was  first  said  by  Father  Olmedo,  and  the  service 
was  .listened  to  by  Teuhtlile  and  his  attendants  with 
decent  reverence.  A  collation  was  afterwards  served, 
at  which  the  general  entertained  his  guest  with  Spanish 
wines  and  confections.  The  interpreters  were  then  in 
troduced,  and  a  conversation  commenced  between  the 
parties. 

The  first  inquiries  of  Teuhtlile  were  respecting  the 
country  of  the  strangers  and  the  purport  of  their  visit, 
Cortes  told  him  that  '''he  was  the  subject  of  a  potent 
monarch  beyond  the  seas,  who  ruled  over  an  immense 
empire,  and  had  kings  and  princes  for  his  vassals ;  that, 
acquainted  with  the  greatness  of  the  Mexican  emperor, 
his  master  had  desired  to  enter  into  a  communication 
with  him,  and  had  sent  him  as  his  envoy  to  wait  on 
Montezuma  with  a  present  in  token  of  his  good  will, 
and  a  message  which  he  must  deliver  in  person. ' '  He 
concluded  by  inquiring  of  Teuhtlile  when  he  could  be 
admitted  to  his  sovereign's  presence. 

To  this  the  Aztec  noble  somewhat  haughtily  replied, 
"How  is  it  that  you  have  been  here  only  two  days, 
and  demand  to  see  the  emperor?"  He  then  added, 
with  more  courtesy,  that  "he  was  surprised  to  learn 
there  was  another  monarch  as  powerful  as  Montezuma, 
but  that,  if  it  were  so,  he  had  no  doubt  his  master 
would  be  happy  to  communicate  with  him.  He  would 
send  his  couriers  with  the  royal  gift  brought  by  the 
Spanish  commander,  and,  so  soon  as  he  had  learned 
Montezuma' s  will,  would  communicate  it." 


INTERVIEW  WITH    THE    AZTECS.  299 

Teuhtlile  then  commanded  his  slaves  to  bring  for 
ward  the  present  intended  for  the  Spanish  general.  It 
consisted  of  ten  loads  of  fine  cottons,  several  mantles 
of  that  curious  feather-work  whose  rich  and  delicate 
dyes  might  vie  with  the  most  beautiful  painting,  and 
a  wicker  basket  filled  with  ornaments  of  wrought 
gold,  all  calculated  to  inspire  the  Spaniards  with  high 
ideas  of  the  wealth  and  mechanical  ingenuity  of  the 
Mexicans. 

Cortes  received  these  presents  with  suitable  acknowl 
edgments,  and  ordered  his  own  attendants  to  lay  before 
the  chief  the  articles  designed  for  Montezuma.  These 
were  an  arm-chair  richly  carved  and  painted,  a  crimson 
cap  of  cloth,  having  a  gold  medal  emblazoned  with  St. 
George  and  the  dragon,  and  a  quantity  of  collars, 
bracelets,  and  other  ornaments  of  cut  glass,  which,  in 
a  country  where  glass  was  not  to  be  had,  might  claim 
to  have  the  value  of  real  gems,  and  no  doubt  passed 
for  such  with  the  inexperienced  Mexican.  Teuhtlile 
observed  a  soldier  in  the  camp  with  a  shining  gilt 
helmet  on  his  head,  which  he  said  reminded  him  of 
one  worn  by  the  god  Quetzalcoatl  in  Mexico ;  and  he 
showed  a  desire  that  Montezuma  should  see  it.  The 
coming  of  the  Spaniards,  as  the  reader  will  soon  see, 
was  associated  with  some  traditions  of  this  same  deity. 
Cortes  expressed  his  willingness  that  the  casque  should 
be  sent  to  the  emperor,  intimating  a  hope  that  it  would 
be  returned  filled  with  the  gold  dust  of  the  country, 
that  he  might  be  able  to  compare  its  quality  with  that 
in  his  own  !  He  further  told  the  governor,  as  we  are 
informed  by  his  chaplain,  "that  the  Spaniards  were 
troubled  with  a  disease  of  the  heart,  for  which  gold  was 


300  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

a  specific  remedy"  ! I0  "In  short,"  says  Las  Casas, 
"he  contrived  to  make  his  want  of  gold  very  clear  to 
the  governor."  " 

While  these  things  were  passing,  Cortes  observed 
one  of  Teuhtlile's  attendants  busy  with  a  pencil,  ap 
parently  delineating  some  object.  On  looking  at  his 
work,  he  found  that  it  was  a  sketch  on  canvas  of  the 
Spaniards,  their  costumes,  arms,  and,  in  short,  different 
objects  of  interest,  giving  to  each  its  appropriate  form 
and  color.  This  was  the  celebrated  picture-  writing 
of  the  Aztecs,  and,  as  Teuhtlile  informed  him,  this  man 
was  employed  in  portraying  the  various  objects  for  the 
eye  of  Montezuma,  who  would  thus  gather  a  more  vivid 
notion  of  their  appearance  than  from  any  description 
by  words.  Cortes  was  pleased  with  the  idea ;  and,  as 
he  knew  how  much  the  effect  would  be  heightened  by 
converting  still  life  into  action,  he  ordered  out  the 
cavalry  on  the  beach,  the  wet  sands  of  which  afforded 
a  firm  footing  for  the  horses.  The  bold  and  rapid 
movements  of  the  troops,  as  they  went  through  their 
military  exercises ;  the  apparent  ease  with  which  they 
managed  the  fiery  animals  on  which  they  were  mounted  ; 
the  glancing  of  their  weapons,  and  the  shrill  cry  of  the 
trumpet,  all  filled  the  spectators  with  astonishment ; 
but  when  they  heard  the  thunders  of  the  cannon,  which 
Cortes  ordered  to  be  fired  at  the  same  time,  and  wit 
nessed  the  volumes  of  smoke  and  flame  issuing  from 
these  terrible  engines,  and  the  rushing  sound  of  the 
balls,  as  they  dashed  through  the  trees  of  the  neigh 
boring  forest,  shivering  their  branches  into  fragments, 

10  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  26. 

11  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  119. 


INTERVIEW  WITH    THE    AZTECS. 


301 


they  were  filled  with  consternation,  from  which  the 
Aztec  chief  himself  was  not  wholly  free. 

Nothing  of  all  this  was  lost  on  the  painters,  who 
faithfully  recorded,  after  their  fashion,  every  partic 
ular;  not  omitting  the  ships, — "the  water-houses,"  as 
they  called  them,  of  the  strangers, — which,  with  their 
dark  hulls  and  snow-white  sails  reflected  from  the 
water,  were  swinging  lazily  at  anchor  on  the  calm 
bosom  of  the  bay.  All  was  depicted  with  a  fidelity 
that  excited  in  their  turn  the  admiration  of  the  Span 
iards,  who,  doubtless,  unprepared  for  this  exhibition  of 
skill,  greatly  overestimated  the  merits  of  the  execution.* 

These  various  matters  completed,  Teuhtlile  with  his 
attendants  withdrew  from  the  Spanish  quarters,  with 
the  same  ceremony  with  which  he  had  entered  them ; 
leaving  orders  that  his  people  should  supply  the  troops 
with  provisions  and  other  articles  requisite  for  their  ac 
commodation,  till  further  instructions  from  the  capital." 

13  Ixtlilxochitl,  Relaciones,  MS.,  No.  13. — Idem, Hist.  Chich.,  MS., 
cap.  79. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  25,  26. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la 
Conquista,  cap.  38. — Herrcra,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  4. — 
Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  4,  cap. 
13-15. — Tezozomoc,  Cron.  Mexicana,  MS.,  cap.  107. 


*  [According  to  a  curious  document  published  by  Icazbalceta  (Col. 
de  Doc.  para  la  Hist,  de  Mexico,  torn.  ii. ) ,  two  of  the  principal  caciques 
present  on  this  occasion  communicated  secretly  with  Cortes,  and, 
declaring  themselves  disaffected  subjects  of  Montezuma,  offered  to 
facilitate  the  advance  of  the  Spaniards  by  furnishing  the  general  with 
paintings  in  which  the  various  features  of  the  country  would  be  cor 
rectly  delineated.  The  offer  was  accepted,  and  on  the  next  visit  the 
paintings  were  produced,  and  proved  subsequently  of  great  service 
to  Cortes,  who  rewarded  the  donors  with  certain  grants.  But  the 
genuineness  of  this  paper,  though  supported  by  so  distinguished  a 
scholar  as  Senor  Ramirez,  is  more  than  questionable. — ED.] 
VOL.  I.  26 


CHAPTER    VI. 

ACCOUNT  OF  MONTEZUMA.  -  STATE  OF  HIS  EMPIRE. 
STRANGE  PROGNOSTICS.  —  EMBASSY  AND  PRESENTS. 
SPANISH  ENCAMPMENT. 


WE  must  now  take  leave  of  the  Spanish  camp  in  the 
tierra  caliente,  and  transport  ourselves  to  the  distant 
capital  of  Mexico,  where  no  little  sensation  was  excited 
by  the  arrival  of  the  wonderful  strangers  on  the  coast. 
The  Aztec  throne  was  filled  at  that  time  by  Montezuma 
the  Second,  nephew  of  the  last,  and  grandson  of  a 
preceding  monarch.  He  had  been  elected  to  the  regal 
dignity  in  1502,  in  preference  to  his  brothers,  for  his 
superior  qualifications  both  as  a  soldier  and  a  priest,  — 
a  combination  of  offices  sometimes  found  in  the  Mexican 
candidates,  as  it  was  more  frequently  in  the  Egyptian. 
In  early  youth  he  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the  wars 
of  the  empire,  though  of  late  he  had  devoted  himself 
more  exclusively  to  the  services  of  the  temple  ;  and  he 
was  scrupulous  in  his  attentions  to  all  the  burdensome 
ceremonial  of  the  Aztec  worship.  He  maintained  a 
grave  and  reserved  demeanor,  speaking  little  and  with 
prudent  deliberation.  His  deportment  was  well  calcu 
lated  to  inspire  ideas  of  superior  sanctity.1 

1  His  name  suited  his  nature  ;  Montezuma,  according  to  Las  Casas, 
signifying,  in  the  Mexican,  "  sad  or  severe  man."    Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
(302) 


ACCOUNT    OF  MONTEZUMA. 


3°3 


When  his  election  was  announced  to  him,  he  was 
found  sweeping  down  the  stairs  in  the  great  temple  of 
the  national  war-god.  He  received  the  messengers  with 
a  becoming  humility,  professing  his  unfitness  for  so  re 
sponsible  a  station.  The  address  delivered  as  usual  on 
the  occasion  was  made  by  his  relative  Nezahualpilli, 
the  wise  king  of  Tezcuco.2  It  has,  fortunately,  been 
preserved,  and  presents  a  favorable  specimen  of  Indian 
eloquence.  Towards  the  conclusion,  the  orator  ex 
claims,  "Who  can  doubt  that  the  Aztec  empire  has 
reached  the  zenith  of  its  greatness,  since  the  Almighty 
has  placed  over  it  one  whose  very  presence  fills  every 
beholder  with  reverence  ?  Rejoice,  happy  people,  that 
you  have  now  a  sovereign  who  will  be  to  you  a  steady 
column  of  support ;  a  father  in  distress,  a  more  than 
brother  in  tenderness  and  sympathy ;  one  whose  aspir 
ing  soul  will  disdain  all  the  profligate  pleasures  of  the 
senses  and  the  wasting  indulgence  of  sloth.  And  thou, 
illustrious  youth,  doubt  not  that  the  Creator,  who  has 
laid  on  thee  so  weighty  a  charge,  will  also  give  strength 
to  sustain  it ;  that  He,  who  has  been  so  liberal  in  times 
past,  will  shower  yet  more  abundant  blessings  on  thy 
head,  and  keep  thee  firm  in  thy  royal  seat  through 
many  long  and  glorious  years."  These  golden  prog 
nostics,  which  melted  the  royal  auditor  into  tears,  were 
not  destined  to  be  realized.3 

MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  120.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  70.— 
Acosta,  lib.  7,  cap.  20. — Col.  de  Mendoza,  pp.  13-16 ;  Codex  Tel.- 
Rem.,  p.  143,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi. 

2  For  a  full  account  of  this  prince,  see  Book  I.,  chap.  6. 

3  The  address  is  fully  reported  by  Torquemada  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib. 
3,  cap.  68),  who  came  into  the  country  little  more  than  half  a  century 
after  its  delivery.     It  has  been  recently  republished  by  Bustamante. 
Tezcuco  en  los  ultimos  Tiempos  (Mexico,  1826),  pp.  256-258. 


304  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

Montezuma  displayed  all  the  energy  and  enterprise 
in  the  commencement  of  his  reign  which  had  been 
anticipated  from  him.  His  first  expedition  against  a 
rebel  province  in  the  neighborhood  was  crowned  with 
success,  and  he  led  back  in  triumph  a  throng  of  cap 
tives  for  the  bloody  sacrifice  that  was  to  grace  his  coro 
nation.  This  was  celebrated  with  uncommon  pomp. 
Games  and  religious  ceremonies  continued  for  several 
days,  and  among  the  spectators  who  flocked  from  dis 
tant  quarters  were  some  noble  Tlascalans,  the  hereditary 
enemies  of  Mexico.  They  were  in  disguise,  hoping 
thus  to  elude  detection.  They  were  recognized,  how 
ever,  and  reported  to  the  monarch.  But  he  only 
availed  himself  of  the  information  to  provide  them 
with  honorable  entertainment  and  a  good  place  for 
witnessing  the  games.  This  was  a  magnanimous  act, 
considering  the  long-cherished  hostility  between  the 
nations. 

In  his  first  years,  Montezuma  was  constantly  engaged 
in  war,  and  frequently  led  his  armies  in  person.  The 
Aztec  banners  were  seen  in  the  farthest  provinces  on 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the  distant  regions  of  Nica 
ragua  and  Honduras.  The  expeditions  were  generally 
successful ;  and  the  limits  of  the  empire  were  more 
widely  extended  than  at  any  preceding  period. 

Meanwhile  the  monarch  was  not  inattentive  to  the 
interior  concerns  of  the  kingdom.  He  made  some  im 
portant  changes  in  the  courts  of  justice,  and  carefully 
watched  over  the  execution  of  the  laws,  which  he  en 
forced  with  stern  severity.  He  was  in  the  habit  of 
patrolling  the  streets  of  his  capital  in  disguise,  to  make 
himself  personally  acquainted  with  the  abuses  in  it. 


ACCOUNT    OF   MONTEZUMA.  305 

And  with  more  questionable  policy,  it  is  said,  he  would 
sometimes  try  the  integrity  of  his  judges  by  tempting 
them  with  large  bribes  to  swerve  from  their  duty,  and 
then  call  the  delinquent  to  strict  account  for  yielding 
to  the  temptation. 

He  liberally  recompensed  all  who  served  him.  He 
showed  a  similar  munificent  spirit  in  his  public  works, 
constructing  and  embellishing  the  temples,  bringing 
water  into  the  capital  by  a  new  channel,  and  estab 
lishing  a  hospital,  or  retreat  for  invalid  soldiers,  in  the 
city  of  Colhuacan.4 

These  acts,  so  worthy  of  a  great  prince,  were  counter 
balanced  by  others  of  an  opposite  complexion.  The 
humility,  displayed  so  ostentatiously  before  his  eleva 
tion,  gave  way  to  an  intolerable  arrogance.  In  his 
pleasure-houses,  domestic  establishment,  and  way  of 
living,  he  assumed  a  pomp  unknown  to  his  predeces 
sors.  He  secluded  himself  from  public  observation, 
or,  when  he  went  abroad,  exacted  the  most  slavish 
homage  ;  while  in  the  palace  he  would  be  served  only, 
even  in  the  most  menial  offices,  by  persons  of  rank. 
He,  further,  dismissed  several  plebeians,  chiefly  poor 
soldiers  of  merit,  from  the  places  they  had  occupied 
near  the  person  of  his  predecessor,  considering  their 
attendance  a  dishonor  to  royalty.  It  was  in  vain  that 
his  oldest  and  sagest  counsellors  remonstrated  on  a 
conduct  so  impolitic. 

While  he  thus  disgusted  his  subjects  by  his  haughty 
deportment,  he  alienated  their  affections  by  the  impo- 

4  Acosta,  lib.  7,  cap.  22. — Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  8, 
Prologo,  et  cap.  i. — Torqucmada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  3,  cap.  73,74, 
81. — Col.  de  Mendoza,  pp.  14,  85,  ap.  Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi. 

26* 


306  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO, 

sition  of  grievous  taxes.  These  were  demanded  by  the 
lavish  expenditure  of  his  court.  They  fell  with  peculiar 
heaviness  on  the  conquered  cities.  This  oppression 
led  to  frequent  insurrection  and  resistance ;  and  the 
latter  years  of  his  reign  present  a  scene  of  unintermit- 
ting  hostility,  in  which  the  forces  of  one  half  of  the 
empire  were  employed  in  suppressing  the  commotions 
of  the  other.  Unfortunately,  there  was  no  principle 
of  amalgamation  by  which  the  new  acquisitions  could 
be  incorporated  into  the  ancient  monarchy  as  parts 
of  one  whole.  Their  interests,  as  well  as  sympathies, 
were  different.  Thus  the  more  widely  the  Aztec  em 
pire  was  extended,  the  weaker  it  became ;  resembling 
some  vast  and  ill -proportioned  edifice,  whose  disjointed 
materials,  having  no  principle  of  cohesion,  and  totter 
ing  under  their  own  weight,  seem  ready  to  fall  before 
the  first  blast  of  the  tempest. 

In  1516  died  the  Tezcucan  king,  Nezahualpilli ;  in 
whom  Montezuma  lost  his  most  sagacious  counsellor. 
The  succession  was  contested  by  his  two  sons,  Cacama 
and  Ixtlilxochitl.  The  former  was  supported  by  Monte 
zuma.  The  latter,  the  younger  of  the  princes,  a  bold, 
aspiring  youth,  appealing  to  the  patriotic  sentiment  of 
his  nation,  would  have  persuaded  them  that  his  brother 
was  too  much  in  the  Mexican  interests  to  be  true  to  his 
own  country.  A  civil  war  ensued,  and  ended  by  a 
compromise,  by  which  one  half  of  the  kingdom,  with 
the  capital,  remained  to  Cacama,  and  the  northern  por 
tion  to  his  ambitious  rival.  Ixtlilxochitl  became  from 
that  time  the  mortal  foe  of  Montezuma.5 

s  Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  pp.  267,  274,  275. — Ixtlilxo 
chitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  70-76. — Acosta,  lib.  7,  cap.  21. 


STATE    OF   HIS    EMPIRE. 


3°7 


A  more  formidable  enemy  still  was  the  little  republic 
of  Tlascala,  lying  midway  between  the  Mexican  Valley 
and  the  coast.  It  had  maintained  its  independence 
for  more  than  two  centuries  against  the  allied  forces 
of  the  empire.  Its  resources  were  unimpaired,  its  civil 
ization  scarcely  below  that  of  its  great  rival  states,  and 
for  courage  and  military  prowess  it  had  established  a 
name  inferior  to  none  other  of  the  nations  of  Anahuac. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Aztec  monarchy  on 
the  arrival  of  Cortes ; — the  people  disgusted  with  the 
arrogance  of  the  sovereign ;  the  provinces  and  distant 
cities  outraged  by  fiscal  exactions ;  while  potent  ene 
mies  in  the  neighborhood  lay  watching  the  hour  when 
they  might  assail  their  formidable  rival  with  advantage. 
Still  the  kingdom  was  strong  in  its  internal  resources, 
in  the  will  of  its  monarch,  in  the  long  habitual  defer 
ence  to  his  authority, — in  short,  in  the  terror  of  his 
name,  and  in  the  valor  and  discipline  of  his  armies, 
grown  gray  in  active  service,  and  well  drilled  in  all  the 
tactics  of  Indian  warfare.  The  time  had  now  come 
when  these  imperfect  tactics  and  rude  weapons  of  the 
barbarian  were  to  be  brought  into  collision  with  the 
science  and  enginery  of  the  most  civilized  nations  of 
the  globe. 

During  the  latter  years  of  his  reign,  Montezuma  had 
rarely  taken  part  in  his  military  expeditions,  which  he 
left  to  his  captains,  occupying  himself  chiefly  with  his 
sacerdotal  functions.  Under  no  prince  had  the  priest 
hood  enjoyed  greater  consideration  and  immunities. 
The  religious  festivals  and  rites  were  celebrated  with 
unprecedented  pomp.  The  oracles  were  consulted  on 
the  most  trivial  occasions ;  and  the  sanguinary  deities 


308  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

were  propitiated  by  hecatombs  of  victims  dragged  in 
triumph  to  the  capital  from  the  conquered  or  rebellious 
provinces.  The  religion,  or,  to  speak  correctly,  the 
superstition  of  Montezuma  proved  a  principal  cause 
of  his  calamities. 

In  a  preceding  chapter  I  have  noticed  the  popular 
traditions  respecting  Quetzalcoatl,  that  deity  with  a 
fair  complexion  and  flowing  beard,  so  unlike  the  Indian 
physiognomy,  who,  after  fulfilling  his  mission  of  benev 
olence  among  the  Aztecs,  embarked  on  the  Atlantic 
Sea  for  the  mysterious  shores  of  Tlapallan.6  He  prom 
ised,  on  his  departure,  to  return  at  some  future  day 
with  his  posterity,  and  resume  the  possession  of  his 
empire.  That  day  was  looked  forward  to  with  hope 
or  with  apprehension,  according  to  the  interest  of  the 
believer,  but  with  general  confidence,  throughout  the 
wide  borders  of  Anahuac.  Even  after  the  Conquest  it 
still  lingered  among  the  Indian  races,  by  whom  it  was 
as  fondly  cherished  as  the  advent  of  their  king  Sebas 
tian  continued  to  be  by  the  Portuguese,  or  that  of  the 
Messiah  by  the  Jews.7 

A  general  feeling  seems  to  have  prevailed  in  the  time 
of  Montezuma  that  the  period  for  the  return  of  the 
deity  and  the  full  accomplishment  of  his  promise  was 
near  at  hand.  This  conviction  is  said  to  have  gained 
ground  from  various  preternatural  occurrences,  reported 
with  more  or  less  detail  by  all  the  most  ancient  histo- 

6  Ante,  Book  I.,  chap.  3,  pp.  60,  61,  and  note  6. 

7  Tezozomoc,  Cron.  Mexicana,  MS.,  cap.  107. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist. 
Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  i. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  4,  cap.  14; 
lib.  6,  cap.  24. — Codex  Vaticanus,  ap.  Antiq.   of  Mexico,  vol.  vi. — 
Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  lib.  8,  cap.  7. — Ibid.,  MS.,  lib.  12, 
cap.  3,  4. 


STRANGE    PROGNOSTICS.  309 

rians.8  In  1510  the  great  lake  of  Tezcuco,  without 
the  occurrence  of  a  tempest,  or  earthquake,  or  any 
other  visible  cause,  became  violently  agitated,  over 
flowed  its  banks,  and,  pouring  into  the  streets  of  Mex 
ico,  swept  off  many  of  the  buildings  by  the  fury  of  the 
waters.  In  1511  one  of  the  turrets  of  the  great  temple 
took  fire,  equally  without  any  apparent  cause,  and  con 
tinued  to  burn  in  defiance  of  all  attempts  to  extinguish 
it.  In  the  following  years,  three  comets  were  seen ; 
and  not  long  before  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards  a 
strange  light  broke  forth  in  the  east.  It  spread  broad 
at  its  base  on  the  horizon,  and  rising  in  a  pyramidal 
form  tapered  off  as  it  approached  the  zenith.  It  re 
sembled  a  vast  sheet  or  flood  of  fire,  emitting  sparkles, 
or,  as  an  old  writer  expresses  it,  "  seemed  thickly 
powdered  with  stars. "  9  At  the  same  time,  low  voices 
were  heard  in  the  air,  and  doleful  wailings,  as  if  to 
announce  some  strange,  mysterious  calamity !  The 
Aztec  monarch,  terrified  at  the  apparitions  in  the 
heavens,  took  counsel  of  Nezahualpilli,  who  was  a  great 
proficient  in  the  subtle  science  of  astrology.  But  the 
royal  sage  cast  a  deeper  cloud  over  his  spirit  by  reading 
in  these  prodigies  the  speedy  downfall  of  the  empire.10 

8  "  Tenia  por  cierto,"  says  Las  Casas  of  Montezuma,  "  segun  sus 
prophetas  6  agoreros  le  avian  certificado,  que  su  estado  e  rriquezas  y 
prosperidad  avia  de  perezer  dentro  de  pocos  afios  por  9iertas  gentes 
que  avian  de  venir  en  sus  dias,  que  de  su  felicidad  lo  derrocase,  y  por 
esto  vivia  siempre  con  temor  y  en  triste9a  y  sobresaltado."     Hist,  de 
las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  120. 

9  Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — The  Interpreter  of  the  Codex 
Tel.-Rem.  intimates  that  this  scintillating  phenomenon  was  probably 
nothing  more  than  an  eruption  of  one  of  the  great  volcanoes  of  Mex 
ico.     Antiq.  of  Mexico,  vol.  vi.  p.  144. 

10  Sahagun,    Hist,  de   Nueva-Espana,  MS.,  lib.  12,  cap.  i. — Ca- 


3io  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

Such  are  the  strange  stories  reported  by  the  chron 
iclers,  in  which  it  is  not  impossible  to  detect  the  glim 
merings  of  truth.11  Nearly  thirty  years  had  elapsed 
since  the  discovery  of  the  Islands  by  Columbus,  and 
more  than  twenty  since  his  visit  to  the  American 
continent.  Rumors,  more  or  less  distinct,  of  this 
wonderful  appearance  of  the  white  men,  bearing  in 
their  hands  the  thunder  and  the  lightning,  so  like  in 
many  respects  to  the  traditions  of  Quetzalcoatl,  would 
naturally  spread  far  and  wide  among  the  Indian  nations. 
Such  rumors,  doubtless,  long  before  the  landing  of  the 
Spaniards  in  Mexico,  found  their  way  up  the  grand 
plateau,  filling  the  minds  of  men  with  anticipations  of 
the  near  coming  of  the  period  when  the  great  deity  was 
to  return  and  receive  his  own  again. 

In  the  excited  state  of  their  imaginations,  prodigies 
became  a  familiar  occurrence.  Or  rather,  events  not 
very  uncommon  in  themselves,  seen  through  the  dis 
colored  medium  of  fear,  were  easily  magnified  into 
prodigies;  and  the  accidental  swell  of  the  lake,  the 
appearance  of  a  comet,  and  the  conflagration  of  a 
building  were  all  interpreted  as  the  special  annuncia 
tions  of  Heaven.12  Thus  it  happens  in  those  great 

margo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Acosta,  lib.  7,  cap.  23. — Herrera, 
Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  5. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS., 
cap.  74. 

11  I  omit  the  most  extraordinary  miracle  of  all, — though  legal  attes 
tations  of  its  truth  were  furnished  the  court  of  Rome  (see  Clavigero, 
Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  289), — namely,  the  resurrection  of  Monte- 
zuma's  sister,  Papantzin,  four  days  after  her  burial,  to  warn  the  mon 
arch  of  the  approaching  ruin  of  his  empire.     It  finds  credit  with  one 
writer,  at  least,  in  the  nineteenth  century  !     See  the  note  of  Sahagun's 
Mexican  editor,  Bustamante,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  torn.  ii.  p.  270. 

12  Lucan  gives  a  fine  enumeration  of  such  prodigies  witnessed  in 


APPREHENSIONS    OF   MONTEZUMA.         311 

political  convulsions  which  shake  the  foundations  of 
society, — the  mighty  events  that  cast  their  shadows 
before  them  in  their  coming.  Then  it  is  that  the 
atmosphere  is  agitated  with  the  low,  prophetic  mur 
murs  with  which  Nature,  in  the  moral  as  in  the  physi 
cal  world,  announces  the  march  of  the  hurricane : 

"  When  from  the  shores 
And  forest-rustling  mountains  comes  a  voice, 
That,  solemn  sounding,  bids  the  world  prepare  !" 

When  tidings  were  brought  to  the  capital  of  the  land 
ing  of  Grijalva  on  the  coast,  in  the  preceding  year,  the 
heart  of  Monte/Aima  was  filled  with  dismay.  He  felt 
as  if  the  destinies  which  had  so  long  brooded  over  the 
royal  line  of  Mexico  were  to  be  accomplished,  and 
the  sceptre  was  to  pass  away  from  his  house  forever. 
Though  somewhat  relieved  by  the  departure  of  the 
Spaniards,  he  caused  sentinels  to  be  stationed  on  the 
heights ;  and,  when  the  Europeans  returned  under 
Cortes,  he  doubtless  received  the  earliest  notice  of  the 
unwelcome  event.  It  was  by  his  orders,  however,  that 
the  provincial  governor  had  prepared  so  hospitable 
a  reception  for  them.  The  hieroglyphical  report  of 
these  strange  visitors,  now  forwarded  to  the  capital,  re 
vived  all  his  apprehensions.  He  called,  without  delay, 
a  meeting  of  his  principal  counsellors,  including  the 

the  Roman  capital  in  a  similar  excitement.  (Pharsalia,  lib.  i,  v.  523, 
et  seq.)  Poor  human  nature  is  much  the  same  everywhere.  Machia- 
velli  has  thought  the  subject  worthy  of  a  separate  chapter  in  his  Dis 
courses.  The  philosopher  even  intimates  a  belief  in  the  existence  of 
beneficent  intelligences  who  send  these  portents  as  a  sort  of  prcmoni- 
tories,  to  warn  mankind  of  the  coming  tempest.  Discorsi  sopra  Tito 
Livio,  lib.  i,  cap.  56. 


3i2  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

kings  of  Tezcuco  and  Tlacopan,  and  laid  the  matter 
before  them.13 

There  seems  to  have  been  much  division  of  opinion 
in  that  body.  Some  were  for  resisting  the  strangers 
at  once,  whether  by  fraud  or  by  open  force.  Others 
contended  that,  if  they  were  supernatural  beings,  fraud 
and  force  would  be  alike  useless.  If  they  were,  as  they 
pretended,  ambassadors  from  a  foreign  prince,  such  a 
policy  would  be  cowardly  and  unjust.  That  they  were 
not  of  the  family  of  Quetzalcoatl  was  argued  from  the 
fact  that  they  had  shown  themselves  hostile  to  his 
religion ;  for  tidings  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Span 
iards  in  Tabasco,  it  seems,  had  already  reached  the 
capital.  Among  those  in  favor  of  giving  them  a 
friendly  and  honorable  reception  was  the  Tezcucan 
king,  Cacama. 

But  Montezuma,  taking  counsel  of  his  own  ill-defined 
apprehensions,  preferred  a  half-way  course, — as  usual, 
the  most  impolitic.  He  resolved  to  send  an  embassy, 
with  such  a  magnificent  present  to  the  strangers  as 
should  impress  them  with  high  ideas  of  his  grandeur 
and  resources ;  while  at  the  same  time  he  would  forbid 
their  approach  to  the  capital.  This  was  to  reveal  at 
once  both  his  wealth  and  his  weakness.14 

While  the  Aztec  court  was  thus  agitated  by  the  arrival 
of  the  Spaniards,  they  were  passing  their  time  in  the 
tierra  calicnte,  not  a  little  annoyed  by  the  excessive 

X3  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  120. — Ixtlilxo- 
chitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  80. — Idem,  Relaciones,  MS. — Sahagun, 
Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  MS.,  lib.  12,  cap.  3,  4. — Tezozomoc,  Cron. 
Mexicana,  MS.,  cap.  108. 

X4  Tezozomoc,  Cron.  Mexicana,  MS.,  loc.  cit. — Camargo,  Hist,  de 
Tlascala,  MS.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  80. 


EMBASSY  AND    PRESENTS.  313 

heats  and  suffocating  atmosphere  of  the  sandy  waste  on 
which  they  were  encamped.  They  experienced  every 
alleviation  that  could  be  derived  from  the  attentions 
of  the  friendly  natives.  These,  by  the  governor's 
command,  had  constructed  more  than  a  thousand  huts 
or  booths  of  branches  and  matting,  which  they  occupied 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  camp.  Here  they  prepared 
various  articles  of  food  for  the  table  of  Cortes  and  his 
officers,  without  any  recompense ;  while  the  common 
soldiers  easily  obtained  a  supply  for  themselves,  in  ex 
change  for  such  trifles  as  they  brought  with  them  for 
barter.  Thus  the  camp  was  liberally  provided  with 
meat  and  fish  dressed  in  many  savory  ways,  with  cakes 
of  corn,  bananas,  pine-apples,  and  divers  luscious  vege 
tables  of  the  tropics,  hitherto  unknown  to  the  Span 
iards.  The  soldiers  contrived,  moreover,  to  obtain 
many  little  bits  of  gold,  of  no  great  value,  indeed, 
from  the  natives  ;  a  traffic  very  displeasing  to  the  par 
tisans  of  Velasquez,  who  considered  it  an  invasion  of 
his  rights.  Cortes,  however,  did  not  think  it  pru 
dent,  in  this  matter,  to  balk  the  inclinations  of  his 
followers.15 

At  the  expiration  of  seven,  or  eight  days  at  most,  the 
Mexican  embassy  presented  itself  before  the  camp.  It 
may  seem  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time,  consider 
ing  the  distance  of  the  capital  was  nearly  seventy  leagues. 
But  it  may  be  remembered  that  tidings  were  carried 
there  by  means  of  posts,  as  already  noticed,  in  the 
brief  space  of  four-and-twenty  hours  ; l6  and  four  or  five 

*s  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  39. — Gomara,  Cronica, 
cap.  27,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. 

16  Ante,  Book  i,  chap.  2,  p.  44. 
VOL.  I. — o  27 


DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

days  would  suffice  for  the  descent  of  the  envoys  to  the 
coast,  accustomed  as  the  Mexicans  were  to  long  and 
rapid  travelling.  At  all  events,  no  writer  states  the 
period  occupied  by  the  Indian  emissaries  on  this  occa 
sion  as  longer  than  that  mentioned. 

The  embassy,  consisting  of  two  Aztec  nobles,  was 
accompanied  by  the  governor,  Teuhtlile,  and  by  a 
hundred  slaves,  bearing  the  princely  gifts  of  Mon- 
tezuma.  One  of  the  envoys  had  been  selected  on 
account  of  the  great  resemblance  which,  as  appeared 
from  the  painting  representing  the  camp,  he  bore  to 
the  Spanish  commander.  And  it  is  a  proof  of  the 
fidelity  of  the  painting,  that  the  soldiers  recognized 
the  resemblance,  and  always  distinguished  the  chief 
by  the  name  of  the  "  Mexican  Cortes." 

On  entering  the  general's  pavilion,  the  ambassadors 
saluted  him  and  his  officers  with  the  usual  signs  of 
reverence  to  persons  of  great  consideration,  touching 
the  ground  with  their  hands  and  then  carrying  them 
to  their  heads,  while  the  air  was  filled  with  clouds  of 
incense,  which  rose  up  from  the  censers  borne  by  their 
attendants.  Some  delicately  wrought  mats  of  the 
country  {petates}  were  then  unrolled,  and  on  them  the 
slaves  displayed  the  various  articles  they  had  brought. 
They  were  of  the  most  miscellaneous  kind :  shields, 
helmets,  cuirasses,  embossed  with  plates  and  ornaments 
of  pure  gold ;  collars  and  bracelets  of  the  same  metal, 
sandals,  fans,  panaches  and  crests  of  variegated  feathers, 
intermingled  with  gold  and  silver  thread,  and  sprinkled 
with  pearls  and  precious  stones ;  imitations  of  birds 
and  animals  in  wrought  and  cast  gold  and  silver,  of 
exquisite  workmanship ;  curtains,  coverlets,  and  robes 


EMBASSY  AND    PRESENTS. 


315 


of  cotton,  fine  as  silk,  of  rich  and  various  dyes,  in 
terwoven  with  feather- work  that  rivalled  the  delicacy 
of  painting.17  There  were  more  than  thirty  loads  of 
cotton  cloth  in  addition.  Among  the  articles  was  the 
Spanish  helmet  sent  to  the  capital,  and  now  returned 
filled  to  the  brim  with  grains  of  gold.  But  the  things 
which  excited  the  most  admiration  were  two  circular 
plates  of  gold  and  silver,  "  as  large  as  carriage-wheels." 
One,  representing  the  sun,  was  richly  carved  with  plants 
and  animals, — no  doubt,  denoting  the  Aztec  century. 
It  was  thirty  palms  in  circumference,  and  was  valued  at 
twenty  thousand  pesos  de  oro.  The  silver  wheel,  of  the 
same  size,  weighed  fifty  marks.18 

»7  From  the  checkered  figure  of  some  of  these  colored  cottons, 
Peter  Martyr  infers,  the  Indians  were  acquainted  with  chess !  He 
notices  a  curious  fabric  made  of  the  hair  of  animals,  feathers,  and 
cotton  thread,  interwoven  together.  "  Plumas  illas  et  concinnant  inter 
cuniculorum  villos  interque  gosampij  stamina  ordiuntur,  et  intexunt 
operose  adeo,  ut  quo  pacto  id  faciant  non  bene  intellexerimus."  De 
Orbe  Novo  (Parisiis,  1587),  dec.  5,  cap.  10. 

18  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  39. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de 
las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  i. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS., 
lib.  3,  cap.  120. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  27,  ap.  Rarcia,  torn.  ii. — Carta 
dc  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  5. — 
Robertson  cites  Bernal  Diaz  as  reckoning  the  value  of  the  silver  plate 
at  20,000  pesos,  or  about  ^5000.  (History  of  America,  vol.  ii.  note 
75.)  But  Bernal  Diaz  speaks  only  of  the  value  of  the  gold  plate, 
which  he  estimates  at  20,000  pesos  de  oro,  different  from  the  pesos, 
dollars,  or  ounces  of  silver,  with  which  the  historian  confounds  them. 
As  the  mention  of  the  peso  de  oro  will  often  recur  in  these  pages, 
ii  will  be  well  to  make  the  reader  acquainted  with  its  probable  value. 
Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  ascertain  the  actual  value  of  the 
currency  of  a  distant  age  ;  so  many  circumstances  occur  to  embar 
rass  the  calculation,  besides  the  general  depreciation  of  the  precious 
metals,  such  as  the  adulteration  of  specific  coins,  and  the  like. 
Senor  Clemencin,  the  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  History,  in 


3i6  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO, 

The  Spaniards  could  not  conceal  their  rapture  at  the 
exhibition  of  treasures  which  so  far  surpassed  all  the 
dreams  in  which  they  had  indulged.  For,  rich  as  were 
the  materials,  they  were  exceeded — according  to  the 
testimony  of  those  who  saw  these  articles  afterwards  in 
Seville,  where  they  could  coolly  examine  them — by  the 
beauty  and  richness  of  the  workmanship.19 

the  sixth  volume  of  its  Memorias,  has  computed  with  great  accuracy 
the  value  of  the  different  denominations  of  the  Spanish  currency  at 
the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  period  just  preceding  that  of  the 
conquest  of  Mexico.  He  makes  no  mention  of  ihe  peso  de  oro  in  his 
tables.  But  he  ascertains  the  precise  value  of  the  gold  ducat,  which 
will  answer  our  purpose  as  well.  (Memorias  de  la  Real  Academia  de 
Historia  (Madrid,  1821),  torn.  vi.  Ilust.  20.)  Oviedo,  a  contemporary 
of  the  Conquerors,  informs  us  that  \\\Q  peso  de  oro  and  the  castellano 
were  of  the  same  value,  and  that  was  precisely  one-third  greater  than 
the  value  of  the  ducat.  (Hist,  del  Ind.,  lib.  6,  cap.  8,  ap.  Ramusio, 
Navigation!  et  Viaggi  (Venetia,  1565),  torn,  iii.)  Now,  the  ducat,  as 
appears  from  Clemencin,  reduced  to  our  own  currency ,  would  be  equal 
to  eight  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents.  The  peso  de  oro,  therefore, 
•was  equal  to  eleven  dollars  and  sixty-seven  cents,  or  two  pounds,  twelve 
shillings,  and  sixpence  sterling.  Keeping  this  in  mind,  it  will  be  easy 
for  the  reader  to  determine  the  actual  value,  in  pesos  de  oro,  of  any 
sum  that  may  be  hereafter  mentioned. 

X9  "  j  Cierto  cosas  de  ver !"  exclaims  Las  Casas,  who  saw  them  with 
the  Emperor  Charles  V.  in  Seville,  in  1520.  "  Quedaron  todos  los  que 
vieron  aquestas  cosas  tan  ricas  y  tan  bien  artifi^iadas  y  ermosisimas 
como  de  cosas  nunca  vistas,"  etc.  (Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3, 
cap.  120.)  "  Muy  hermosas,"  says  Oviedo,  who  saw  them  in  Vaila- 
dolid,  and  describes  the  great  wheels  more  minutely;  "  todo  era 
muchodever!"  (Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  loc.  cit.)  The  inquisitive 
Martyr,  who  examined  them  carefully,  remarks,  yet  more  emphat 
ically,  "  Si  quid  unquam  honoris  humana  ingenia  in  huiuscemodi  arti- 
bus  sunt  adepta,  principatum  iure  merito  ista  consequentur.  Auram, 
gemmasque  non  admiror  quidem,  qua  industria,  quove  studio  superet 
opus  materiam,  stupeo.  Mille  figuras  et  facies  mille  prospexi  quae 
scribere  nequeo.  Quid  oculos  hominum  sua  pulchritudine  ueque  possit 
allicere  meo  iudicio  vidi  nunquam."  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  4,  cap,  9. 


EMBASSY  AND    PRESENTS.  317 

When  Cortes  and  his  officers  had  completed  their 
survey,  the  ambassadors  courteously  delivered  the  mes 
sage  of  Montezuma.  "  It  gave  their  master  great  pleas 
ure,"  they  said,  "to  hold  this  communication  with  so 
powerful  a  monarch  as  the  King  of  Spain,  for  whom 
he  felt  the  most  profound  respect.  He  regretted  much 
that  he  could  not  enjoy  a  personal  interview  with  the 
Spaniards,  but  the  distance  of  his  capital  was  too  great ; 
since  the  journey  was  beset  with  difficulties,  and  with 
too  many  dangers  from  formidable  enemies,  to  make  it 
possible.  All  that  could  be  done,  therefore,  was  for 
the  strangers  to  return  to  their  own  land,  with  the 
proofs  thus  afforded  them  of  his  friendly  disposition." 

Cortes,  though  much  chagrined  at  this  decided  re 
fusal  of  Montezuma  to  admit  his  visit,  concealed  his 
mortification  as  he  best  might,  and  politely  expressed 
his  sense  of  the  emperor's  munificence.  "  It  made 
him  only  the  more  desirous,"  he  said,  "  to  have  a  per 
sonal  interview  with  him.  He  should  feel  it,  indeed, 
impossible  to  present  himself  again  before  his  own 
sovereign,  without  having  accomplished  this  great 
object  of  his  voyage ;  and  one  who  had  sailed  over 
two  thousand  leagues  of  ocean  held  lightly  the  perils 
and  fatigues  of  so  short  a  journey  by  land."  He  once 
more  requested  them  to  become  the  bearers  of  his  mes 
sage  to  their  master,  together  with  a  slight  additional 
token  of  his  respect. 

This  consisted  of  a  few  fine  Holland  shirts,  a  Flor 
entine  goblet,  gilt  and  somewhat  curiously  enamelled, 
with  some  toys  of  little  value, — a  sorry  return  for  the 
solid  magnificence  of  the  royal  present.  The  ambas 
sadors  may  have  thought  as  much.  At  least,  they 
27* 


318  DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 

showed  no  alacrity  in  charging  themselves  either  with 
the  present  or  the  message,  and,  on  quitting  the  Cas- 
tilian  quarters,  repeated  their  assurance  that  the  gen 
eral's  application  would  be  unavailing.20 

The  splendid  treasure,  which  now  lay  dazzling  the 
eyes  of  the  Spaniards,  raised  in  their  bosoms  very  dif 
ferent  emotions,  according  to  the  difference  of  their 
characters.  Some  it  stimulated  with  the  ardent  desire  to 
strike  at  once  into  the  interior  and  possess  themselves 
of  a  country  which  teemed  with  such  boundless  stores 
of  wealth.  Others  looked  on  it  as  the  evidence  of  a 
power  altogether  too  formidable  to  be  encountered 
with  their  present  insignificant  force.  They  thought, 
therefore,  it  would  be  most  prudent  to  return  and  re 
port  their  proceedings  to  the  governor  of  Cuba,  where 
preparations  could  be  made  commensurate  with  so  vast 
an  undertaking.  There  can  be  little  doubt  as  to  the 
impression  made  on  the  bold  spirit  of  Cortes,  on  which 
difficulties  ever  operated  as  incentives,  rather  than 
discouragements,  to  enterprise.  But  he  prudently  said, 
nothing, — at  least  in  public, — preferring  that  so  impor 
tant  a  movement  should  flow  from  the  determination 
of  his  whole  army,  rather  than  from  his  own  individual 
impulse. 

Meanwhile  the  soldiers  suffered  greatly  from  the 
inconveniences  of  their  position  amidst  burning  sands 
and  the  pestilent  effluvia  of  the  neighboring  marshes, 
while  the  venomous  insects  of  these  hot  regions  left 
them  no  repose,  day  or  night.  Thirty  of  their  number 

30  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  121, — Denial 
Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  39. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS., 
cap.  80. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  27,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. 


EMBASSY  AND    PRESENTS.  -JJQ 

had  already  sickened  and  died  ;  a  loss  that  could  ill  be 
afforded  by  the  little  band.  To  add  to  their  troubles, 
the  coldness  of  the  Mexican  chiefs  had  extended  to 
their  followers ;  and  the  supplies  for  the  camp  were 
not  only  much  diminished,  but  the  prices  set  on  them 
were  exorbitant.  The  position  was  equally  unfavorable 
for  the  shipping,  which  lay  in  an  open  roadstead, 
exposed  to  the  fury  of  the  first  nortc  which  should 
sweep  the  Mexican  Gulf. 

The  general  was  induced  by  these  circumstances  to 
despatch  two  vessels,  under  Francisco  de  Montejo,  with 
the  experienced  Alaminos  for  his  pilot,  to  explore  the 
coast  in  a  northerly  direction,  and  see  if  a  safer  port 
and  more  commodious  quarters  for  the  army  could  not 
be  found  there. 

After  the  lapse  of  ten  days  the  Mexican  envoys  re 
turned.  They  entered  the  Spanish  quarters  with  the 
same  formality  as  on  the  former  visit,  bearing  with 
them  an  additional  present  of  rich  stuffs  and  metallic 
ornaments,  which,  though  inferior  in  value  to  those 
before  brought,  were  estimated  at  three  thousand  ounces 
of  gold.  Besides  these,  there  were  four  precious  stones, 
of  a  considerable  size,  resembling  emeralds,  called  by 
the  natives  chalehuites,  each  of  which,  as  they  assured 
the  Spaniards,  was  worth  more  than  a  load  of  gold, 
and  was  designed  as  a  mark  of  particular  respect  for 
the  Spanish  monarch.21  Unfortunately,  they  were  not 
worth  as  many  loads  of  earth  in  Europe. 

21  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  40. — Father  Sahagun 
thus  describes  these  stones,  so  precious  in  Mexico  that  the  use  of 
them  was  interdicted  to  any  but  the  nobles  :  "  The  chalchuitcs  are  of 
a  green  color  mixed  with  white,  and  are  not  transparent.  They  are 


320  DISCOVERY    OF   MEXICO. 

Montezuma's  answer  was  in  substance  the  same  as 
before.  It  contained  a  positive  prohibition  for  the 
strangers  to  advance  nearer  to  the  capital,  and  ex 
pressed  his  confidence  that,  now  they  had  obtained 
what  they  had  most  desired,  they  would  return  to  their 
own  country  without  unnecessary  delay.  Cortes  re 
ceived  this  unpalatable  response  courteously,  though 
somewhat  coldly,  and,  turning  to  his  officers,  exclaimed, 
"This  is  a  rich  and  powerful  prince  indeed;  yet  it 
shall  go  hard  but  we  will  one  day  pay  him  a  visit  in 
his  capital !" 

While  they  were  conversing,  the  bell  struck  for  ves 
pers.  At  the  sound,  the  soldiers,  throwing  themselves 
on  their  knees,  offered  up  their  orisons  before  the  large 
wooden  cross  planted  in  the  sands.  As  the  Aztec  chiefs 
gazed  with  curious  surprise,  Cortes  thought  it  a  favor 
able  occasion  to  impress  them  with  what  he  conceived 
to  be  a  principal  object  of  his  visit  to  the  country. 
Father  Olrnedo  accordingly  expounded,  as  briefly  and 
clearly  as  he  could,  the  great  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
touching  on  the  atonement,  the  passion,  and  the  resur 
rection,  and  concluding  with  assuring  his  astonished 
audience  that  it  was  their  intention  to  extirpate  the 
idolatrous  practices  of  the  nation  and  to  substitute  the 
pure  worship  of  the  true  God.  He  then  put  into  their 
hands  a  little  image  of  the  Virgin  with  the  infant  Re 
deemer,  requesting  them  to  place  it  in  their  temples 
instead  of  their  sanguinary  deities.  How  far  the  Aztec 
lords  comprehended  the  mysteries  of  the  faith,  as  con- 

much  worn  by  persons  of  rank,  and,  attached  to  the  wrist  by  a  thread, 
are  a  token  of  the  nobility  of  the  wearer."  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espaua, 
lib.  n,  cap.  8. 


SPANISH   ENCAMPMENT. 


321 


veyed  through  the  double  version  of  Aguilar  and  Ma 
rina,  or  how  well  they  perceived  the  subtle  distinctions 
between  their  own  images  and  those  of  the  Roman 
Church,  we  are  not  informed.  There  is  reason  to  fear, 
however,  that  the  seed  fell  on  barren  ground  ;  for,  when 
the  homily  of  the  good  father  ended,  they  withdrew 
with  an  air  of  dubious  reserve  very  different  from 
their  friendly  manners  at  the  first  interview.  The 
same  night  every  hut  was  deserted  by  the  natives, 
and  the  Spaniards  saw  themselves  suddenly  cut  off 
from  supplies  in  the  midst  of  a  desolate  wilderness. 
The  movement  had  so  suspicious  an  appearance  that 
Cortes  apprehended  an  attack  would  be  made  on  his 
quarters,  and  took  precautions  accordingly.  But  none 
was  meditated. 

The  army  was  at  length  cheered  by  the  return  of 
Montejo  from  his  exploring  expedition,  after  an  ab 
sence  of  twelve  days.  He  had  run  down  the  Gulf  as 
far  as  Panuco,  where  he  experienced  such  heavy  gales, 
in  attempting  to  double  that  headland,  that  he  was 
driven  back,  and  had  nearly  foundered.  In  the  whole 
course  of  the  voyage  he  had  found  only  one  place  tol 
erably  sheltered  from  the  north  winds.  Fortunately, 
the  adjacent  country,  well  watered  by  fresh,  running 
streams,  afforded  a  favorable  position  for  the  camp ; 
and  thither,  after  some  deliberation,  it  was  determined 
to  repair.22 

2=  Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.— Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias, 
MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  121. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  40,  41. 
— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  6. — Gomara,  Cronica, 
cap.  29,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

TROUBLES  IN  THE  CAMP.  —  PLAN  OF  A  COLONY.  —  MAN 
AGEMENT  OF  CORTES.  -  MARCH  TO  CEMPOALLA.  - 
PROCEEDINGS  WITH  THE  NATIVES.  —  FOUNDATION  OF 
VERA  CRUZ. 


THERE  is  no  situation  which  tries  so  severely  the 
patience  and  discipline  of  the  soldier  as  a  life  of  idle 
ness  in  camp,  where  his  thoughts,  instead  of  being  bent 
on  enterprise  and  action,  are  fastened  on  himself  and 
the  inevitable  privations  and  dangers  of  his  condition. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  in  the  present  instance, 
where,  in  addition  to  the  evils  of  a  scanty  subsistence, 
the  troops  suffered  from  excessive  heat,  swarms  of 
venomous  insects,  and  the  other  annoyances  of  a  sultry 
climate.  They  were,  moreover,  far  from  possessing 
the  character  of  regular  forces,  trained  to  subordination 
under  a  commander  whom  they  had  long  been  taught 
to  reverence  and  obey.  They  were  soldiers  of  for 
tune,  embarked  with  him  in  an  adventure  in  which  all 
seemed  to  have  an  equal  stake,  and  they  regarded  their 
captain  —  the  captain  of  a  day  —  as  little  more  than  an 
equal. 

There  was  a  growing  discontent  among  the  men  at 

their  longer  residence  in  this  strange  land.     They  were 

still  more  dissatisfied  on  learning  the  general's  inten 

tion  to  remove  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  port  dis- 

(322) 


TROUBLES    IN    THE    CAMP. 


323 


covered  by  Montejo.  ''It  was  time  to  return,"  they 
said,  "and  report  what  had  been  done  to  the  governor 
of  Cuba,  and  not  linger  on  these  barren  shores  until 
they  had  brought  the  whole  Mexican  empire  on  their 
heads  !"  Cortes  evaded  their  importunities  as  well  as 
he  could,  assuring  them  there  was  no  cause  for  despond 
ency.  "Everything  so  far  had  gone  on  prosperously, 
and,  when  they  had  taken  up  a  more  favorable  position, 
there  was  no  reason  to  doubt  they  might  still  continue 
the  same  profitable  intercourse  with  the  natives." 

While  this  was  passing,  five  Indians  made  their  ap 
pearance  in  the  camp  one  morning,  and  were  brought 
to  the  general's  tent.  Their  dress  and  whole  appear 
ance  were  different  from  those  of  the  Mexicans.  They 
wore  rings  of  gold,  and  gems  of  bright  blue  stone  in 
their  ears  and  nostrils,  while  a  gold  leaf  delicately 
wrought  was  attached  to  the  under  lip.  Marina  was 
unable  to  comprehend  their  language ;  but,  on  her 
addressing  them  in  Aztec,  two  of  them,  it  was  found, 
could  converse  in  that  tongue.  They  said  they  were 
natives  of  Cempoalla,  the  chief  town  of  the  Totonacs, 
a  powerful  nation  who  had  come  upon  the  great  plateau 
many  centuries  back,  and,  descending  its  eastern  slope, 
settled  along  the  sierras  and  broad  plains  which  skirt 
the  Mexican  Gulf  towards  the  north.  Their  country 
was  one  of  the  recent  conquests  of  the  Aztecs,  and 
they  experienced  such  vexatious  oppressions  from  their 
conquerors  as  made  them  very  impatient  of  the  yoke. 
They  informed  Cortes  of  these  and  other  particulars. 
The  fame  of  the  Spaniards  had  reached  their  master, 
who  sent  these  messengers  to  request  the  presence  of 
the  wonderful  strangers  in  his  capital. 


324  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

This  communication  was  eagerly  listened  to  by  the 
general,  who,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  possessed  of 
none  of  those  facts,  laid  before  the  reader,  respecting 
the  internal  condition  of  the  kingdom,  which  he  had 
no  reason  to  suppose  other  than  strong  and  united. 
An  important  truth  now  flashed  on  his  mind,  as  his 
quick  eye  descried  in  this  spirit  of  discontent  a  potent 
lever,  by  the  aid  of  which  he  might  hope  to  overturn 
this  barbaric  empire.  He  received  the  mission  of  the 
Totonacs  most  graciously,  and,  after  informing  him 
self,  as  far  as  possible,  of  their  dispositions  and  re 
sources,  dismissed  them  with  presents,  promising  soon 
to  pay  a  visit  to  their  lord.1 

Meanwhile,  his  personal  friends,  among  whom  may 
be  particularly  mentioned  Alonso  Hernandez  Puerto- 
carrero,  Cristobal  de  Olid,  Alonso  de  Avila,  Pedro  de 
Alvarado  and  his  brothers,  were  very  busy  in  persuad 
ing  the  troops  to  take  such  measures  as  should  enable 
Cortes  to  go  forward  in  those  ambitious  plans  for  which 
he  had  no  warrant  from  the  powers  of  Velasquez.  "  To 
return  now, ' '  they  said,  ' '  was  to  abandon  the  enter 
prise  on  the  threshold,  which,  under  such  a  leader,  must 
conduct  to  glory  and  incalculable  riches.  To  return  to 
Cuba  would  be  to  surrender  to  the  greedy  governor  the 
little  gains  they  had  already  got.  The  only  way  was 
to  persuade  the  general  to  establish  a  permanent  colony 
in  the  country,  the  government  of  which  would  take 
the  conduct  of  matters  into  its  own  hands  and  provide 
for  the  interests  of  its  members.  It  was  true,  Cortes 
had  no  such  authority  from  Velasquez.  But  the  in- 

1  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  41. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de 
las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  121. — Gpmara,  Cronica,  cap.  28. 


PLAN    OF  A    COLONY.  325 

terests  of  the  sovereigns,  which  were  paramount  to  every 
other,  imperatively  demanded  it." 

These  conferences  could  not  be  conducted  so  secretly, 
though  held  by  night,  as  not  to  reach  the  ears  of  the 
friends  of  Velasquez.2  They  remonstrated  against  the 
proceedings,  as  insidious  and  disloyal.  They  accused 
the  general  of  instigating  them,  and,  calling  on  him  to 
take  measures  without  delay  for  the  return  of  the  troops 
to  Cuba,  announced  their  own  intention  to  depart,  with 
such  followers  as  still  remained  true  to  the  governor. 

Cortes,  instead  of  taking  umbrage  at  this  high-handed 
proceeding,  or  even  answering  in  the  same  haughty  tone, 
mildly  replied  "  that  nothing  was  further  from  his  desire 
than  to  exceed  his  instructions.  He,  indeed,  preferred 
to  remain  in  the  country,  and  continue  his  profitable 
intercourse  with  the  natives.  But,  since  the  army 
thought  otherwise,  he  should  defer  to  their  opinion, 
and  give  orders  to  return,  as  they  desired."  On  the 
following  morning,  proclamation  was  made  for  the 
troops  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  embark  at 
once  on  board  the  fleet,  which  was  to  sail  for  Cuba.3 

Great  was  the  sensation  caused  by  their  general's 
order.  Even  many  of  those  before  clamorous  for  it, 

2  The  letter  from  the  cabildo  of  Vera  Cruz  says  nothing  of  these 
midnight  conferences.     Bernal  Diaz,  who  was  privy  to  them,  is  a 
sufficient  authority.     See  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  42. 

3  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  30. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS., 
lib.  3,  cap.  121. — Ixtlilxochitl,   Hist.   Chich.,   MS.,  cap.  80. — Bernal 
Diaz,  Ibid.,  loc.  cit. — Declaracion  de  Puertocarrero,  MS. — The  depo 
sition  of  a  respectable  person  like  Puertocarrero,  taken  in  the  spring 
of  the  following  year,  after  his  return  to  Spain,  is  a  document  of  such 
authority  that  I  have   transferred  it  entire,  in   the  original,  to  the 
Appendix,  Part  2,  Xo.  7. 

VOL.  I.— 28 


326  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

with  the  usual  caprice  of  men  whose  wishes  are  too 
easily  gratified,  now  regretted  it.  The  partisans  of 
Cortes  were  loud  in  their  remonstrances.  "  They  were 
betrayed  by  the  general,"  they  cried,  and,  thronging 
round  his  tent,  called  on  him  to  countermand  his 
orders.  "We  came  here,"  said  they,  "expecting  to 
form  a  settlement,  if  the  state  of  the  country  authorized 
it.  Now  it  seems  you  have  no  warrant  from  the  gov 
ernor  to  make  one.  But  there  are  interests,  higher 
than  those  of  Velasquez,  which  demand  it.  These 
territories  are  not  his  property,  but  were  discovered  for 
the  sovereigns ; 4  and  it  is  necessary  to  plant  a  colony 
to  watch  over  their  interests,  instead  of  wasting  time 
in  idle  barter,  or,  still  worse,  of  returning,  in  the  pres 
ent  state  of  affairs,  to  Cuba.  If  you  refuse,"  they  con 
cluded,  "we  shall  protest  against  your  conduct  as 
disloyal  to  their  Highnesses." 

Cortes  received  this  remonstrance  with  the  embar 
rassed  air  of  one  by  whom  it  was  altogether  unexpected. 
He  modestly  requested  time  for  deliberation,  and 
promised  to  give  his  answer  on  the  following  day.  At 
the  time  appointed,  he  called  the  troops  together,  and 
made  them  a  brief  address.  "  There  was  no  one,"  he 

4  Sometimes  we  find  the  Spanish  writers  referring  to  "  the  sover 
eigns,"  sometimes  to  "the  emperor;"  in  the  former  case  intending 
Queen  Joanna,  the  crazy  mother  of  Charles  V.,  as  well  as  himself. 
Indeed,  all  public  acts  and  ordinances  ran  in  the  name  of  both.  The 
title  of  "  Highness,"  which  until  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  had  usually 
— not  uniformly,  as  Robertson  imagines  (History  of  Charles  V.,  vol. 
ii.  p.  59) — been  applied  to  the  sovereign,  now  gradually  gave  way  to 
that  of  "  Majesty,"  which  Charles  affected  after  his  election  to  the 
imperial  throne.  The  same  title  is  occasionally  found  in  the  corre 
spondence  of  the  Great  Captain,  and  other  courtiers  of  the  reign  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 


PLAN    OF   A    COLONY.  327 

said,  "if  he  knew  his  own  heart,  more  deeply  devoted 
than  himself  to  the  welfare  of  his  sovereigns  and  the 
glory  of  the  Spanish  name.  He  had  not  only  ex 
pended  his  all,  but  incurred  heavy  debts,  to  meet  the 
charges  of  this  expedition,  and  had  hoped  to  reimburse 
himself  by  continuing  his  traffic  with  the  Mexicans. 
But,  if  the  soldiers  thought  a  different  course  advisable, 
he  was  ready  to  postpone  his  own  advantage  to  the 
good  of  the  state."5  He  concluded  by  declaring  his 
willingness  to  take  measures  for  settling  a  colony  in 
the  name  of  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  and  to  nominate 
a  magistracy  to  preside  over  it.6 

For  the  alcaldes  he  selected  Puertocarrero  and  Mon- 
tejo,  the  former  cavalier  his  fast  friend,  and  the  latter 
the  friend  of  Velasquez,  and  chosen  for  that  very 
reason ;  a  stroke  of  policy  which  perfectly  succeeded. 
The  regidores,  alguacil,  treasurer,  and  other  function 
aries  were  then  appointed,  all  of  them  his  personal 
friends  and  adherents.  They  were  regularly  sworn  into 

5  According  to  Robertson,  Cortes  told  his  men  that  he  had  proposed 
to  establish  a  colony  on  the  coast,  before  marching  into  the  country  ; 
but  he  abandoned  his  design,  at  their  entreaties  to  set  out  at  once  on 
the  expedition.     In  the  very  next  page  we  find  him  organizing  this 
same  colony.     (History  of  America,  vol.  ii.  pp.  241,  242.)     The  his 
torian  would  have  been  saved  this  inconsistency,  if  he  had  followed 
either  of  the  authorities  whom  he  cites,  Bernal  Diaz  and  Herrera,  or 
the  letter  from  Vera  Cruz,  of  which  he  had  a  copy.    They  all  concur 
in  the  statement  in  the  text. 

6  Las  Casas,   Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  122. — Carta  de 
Vera  Cruz,   MS. — Declaracion   de  Montejo,   MS. — Declaracion  de 
Puertocarrero,  MS. — "  Our  general,  after  some  urging,  acquiesced," 
says  the  blunt  old  soldier  Bernal  Diaz;   "for,  as  the  proverb  says, 
'  You  ask  me  to  do  what  I  have  already  made  up  my  mind  to.'  " 
Tu  me  lo  rtiegas,  e  yo  vie  lo  quiero.     Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap,  43, 


328  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

office,  and  the  new  city  received  the  title  of  Villa  Rica 
de  Vcra  Cruz,  "The  Rich  Town  of  the  True  Cross;" 
a  name  which  was  considered  as  happily  intimating 
that  union  of  spiritual  and  temporal  interests  to  which 
the  arms  of  the  Spanish  adventurers  in  the  New  World 
were  to  be  devoted.7  Thus,  by  a  single  stroke  of  the 
pen,  as  it  were,  the  camp  was  transformed  into  a  civil 
community,  and  the  whole  frame-work  and  even  title 
of  the  city  were  arranged,  before  the  site  of  it  had 
been  settled. 

The  new  municipality  were  not  slow  in  coming 
together ;  when  Cortes  presented  himself,  cap  in  hand, 
before  that  august  body,  and,  laying  the  powers  of 
Velasquez  on  the  table,  respectfully  tendered  the  resig 
nation  of  his  office  of  Captain-General,  "  which, 
indeed,"  he  said,  "had  necessarily  expired,  since  the 
authority  of  the  governor  was  now  superseded  by  that 
of  the  magistracy  of  Villa  Rica  de  Vera  Cruz."  He 
then,  with  a  profound  obeisance,  left  the  apartment.8 

The  council,  after  a  decent  time  spent  in  delibera 
tion,  again  requested  his  presence.  "There  was  no 
one,"  they  said,  "who,  on  mature  reflection,  appeared 

7  According  to  Bernal  Diaz,  the  title  of  "  Vera  Cruz"  was  intended 
to  commemorate  their  landing  on  Good  Friday.     Hist,  de  la  Con- 
quista,  cap.  42. 

8  Solis,  whose  taste  for  speech-making  might  have  satisfied  even  the 
Abbe  Mably  (see  his  Treatise,  "  De  la  Maniere  d'ecrire  1'Histoire"), 
has  put  a  very  flourishing  harangue  on  this  occasion  into  the  mouth 
of  his  hero,  of  which  there  is  not  a  vestige  in  any  contemporary 
account.     (Conquista,  lib.  2,  cap.  7.)     Dr.  Robertson  has  transferred 
it  to  his  own  eloquent  pages,  without  citing  his  author,  indeed,  who, 
considering  he  came  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  Conquest,  must 
be  allowed  to  be  not  the  best,  especially  when  the  only,  voucher  for 
a  fact. 


MANAGEMENT    OF   CORTES. 


329 


to  them  so  well  qualified  to  take  charge  of  the  interests 
of  the  community,  both  in  peace  and  in  war,  as  him 
self ;  and  they  unanimously  named  him,  in  behalf  of 
their  Catholic  Highnesses,  Captain-General  and  Chief 
Justice  of  the  colony."  He  was  further  empowered 
to  draw,  on  his  own  account,  one-fifth  of  the  gold  and 
silver  which  might  hereafter  be  obtained  by  commerce 
or  conquest  from  the  natives.9  Thus  clothed  with 
supreme  civil  and  military  jurisdiction,  Cortes  was  not 
backward  in  asserting  his  authority.  He  found  speedy 
occasion  for  it. 

The  transactions  above  described  had  succeeded  each 
other  so  rapidly  that  the  governor's  party  seemed  to  be 
taken  by  surprise,  and  had  formed  no  plan  of  opposi 
tion.  When  the  last  measure  was  carried,  however, 
they  broke  forth  into  the  most  indignant  and  oppro 
brious  invectives,  denouncing  the  whole  as  a  systematic 
conspiracy  against  Velasquez.  These  accusations  led 
to  recrimination  from  the  soldiers  of  the  other  side, 
until  from  words  they  nearly  proceeded  to  blows. 
Some  of  the  principal  cavaliers,  among  them  Velas 
quez  de  Leon,  a  kinsman  of  the  governor,  Escobar, 
his  page,  and  Diego  de  Ordaz,  were  so  active  in  in 
stigating  these  turbulent  movements  that  Cortes  took 
the  bold  measure  of  putting  them  all  in  irons  and 
sending  them  on  board  the  vessels.  He  then  dispersed 
the  common  file  by  detaching  many  of  them  with  a 

9  "  Lo  peor  de  todo  que  le  otorgdmos,"  says  Bernal  Diaz,  somewhat 
peevishly,  was,  "  que  le  dariamos  el  quinto  del  oro  de  lo  que  se  huui- 
esse,  despues  de  sacado  el  Real  quinto."  (Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap. 
42.)  The  letter  from  Vera  Cruz  says  nothing  of  this  fifth.  The 
reader  who  would  see  the  whole  account  of  this  remarkable  transac 
tion  in  the  original  may  find  it  in  the  Appendix,  Part  2,  No.  8. 
28* 


330  DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 

strong  party  under  Alvarado  to  forage  the  neighboring 
country  and  bring  home  provisions  for  the  destitute 
camp. 

During  their  absence,  every  argument  that  cupidity 
or  ambition  could  suggest  was  used  to  win  the  refrac 
tory  to  his  views.  Promises,  and  even  gold,  it  is  said, 
were  liberally  lavished  ;  till,  by  degrees,  their  under 
standings  were  opened  to  a  clearer  view  of  the  merits 
of  the  case.  And  when  the  foraging  party  reappeared 
with  abundance  of  poultry  and  vegetables,  and  the 
cravings  of  the  stomach — that  great  laboratory  of  dis 
affection,  whether  in  camp  or  capital — were  appeased, 
good  humor  returned  with  good  cheer,  and  the  rival 
factions  embraced  one  another  as  companions  in  arms, 
pledged  to  a  common  cause.  Even  the  high-mettled 
hidalgos  on  board  the  vessels  did  not  long  withstand 
the  general  tide  of  reconciliation,  but  one  by  one  gave 
in  their  adhesion  to  the  new  government.  What  is 
more  remarkable  is  that  this  forced  conversion  was 
not  a  hollow  one,  but  from  this  time  forward  several 
of  these  very  cavaliers  became  the  most  steady  and 
devoted  partisans  of  Cortes.10 

10  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  30,  31. — Las 
Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  122.— -Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist. 
Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  80. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  42. — 
Declaraciones  de  Montejo  y  Puertocarrero,  MSS. —  In  the  process  of 
Narvaez  against  Cortes,  the  latter  is  accused  of  being  possessed  with 
the  Devil,  as  only  Lucifer  could  have  thus  gained  him  the  affections 
of  the  soldiery.  (Demanda  de  Narvaez,  MS.)  Soils,  on  the  other 
hand,  sees  nothing  but  good  faith  and  loyalty  in  the  conduct  of  the 
general,  who  acted  from  a  sense  of  duty  !  (Conquista,  lib.  2,  cap.  6, 
7.)  Soli's  is  even  a  more  steady  apologist  for  his  hero  than  his  own 
chaplain,  Gomara,  or  the  worthy  magistrates  of  Vera  Cruz.  A  more 
impartial  testimony  than  either,  probably,  may  be  gathered  from 


MANAGEMENT   OF  CORTES. 


331 


Such  was  the  address  of  this  extraordinary  man,  and 
such  the  ascendency  which  in  a  few  months  he  had 
acquired  over  these  wild  and  turbulent  spirits  !  By 
this  ingenious  transformation  of  a  military  into  a  civil 
community,  he  had  secured  a  new  and  effectual  basis 
for  future  operations.  He  might  now  go  forward  with 
out  fear  of  check  or  control  from  a  superior, — at  least 
from  any  other  superior  than  the  crown,  under  which 
alone  he  held  his  commission.  In  accomplishing  this, 
instead  of  incurring  the  charge  of  usurpation  or  of 
transcending  his  legitimate  powers,  he  had  transferred 
the  responsibility,  in  a  great  measure,  to  those  who  had 
imposed  on  him  the  necessity  of  action.  By  this  step, 
moreover,  he  had  linked  the  fortunes  of  his  followers 
indissolubly  with  his  own.  They  had  taken  their 
chance  with  him,  and,  whether  for  weal  or  for  woe, 
must  abide  the  consequences.  He  was  no  longer  lim 
ited  to  the  narrow  concerns  of  a  sordid  traffic,  but, 
sure  of  their  co-operation,  might  now  boldly  meditate, 
and  gradually  disclose,  those  lofty  schemes  which  he 
had  formed  in  his  own  bosom  for  the  conquest  of  an 
empire." 

Harmony  being  thus  restored,  Cortes  sent  his  heavy 
guns  on  board  the  fleet,  and  ordered  it  to  coast  along 

honest  Bernal  Diaz,  so  often  quoted.  A  hearty  champion  of  the 
cause,  he  was  by  no  means  blind  to  the  defects  or  the  merits  of  his 
leader. 

11  This  may  appear  rather  indifferent  logic  to  those  who  consider 
that  Cortes  appointed  the  very  body  who,  in  turn,  appointed  him  to 
the  command.  But  the  affectation  of  legal  forms  afforded  him  a  thin 
varnish  for  his  proceedings,  which  served  his  purpose,  for  the  present 
at  least,  with  the  troops.  For  the  future,  he  trusted  to  his  good  star — 
in  other  words,  to  the  success  of  his  enterprise — to  vindicate  his  con 
duct  to  the  Emperor.  He  did  not  miscalculate. 


332  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

the  shore  to  the  north  as  far  as  Chiahuitztla,  the  town 
near  which  the  destined  port  of  the  new  city  was  sit 
uated  ;  proposing,  himself,  at  the  head  of  his  troops, 
to  visit  Cempoalla,  on  the  march.  The  road  lay  for 
some  miles  across  the  dreary  plains  in  the  neighbor 
hood  of  the  modern  Vera  Cruz.  In  this  sandy  waste 
no  signs  of  vegetation  met  their  eyes,  which,  however, 
were  occasionally  refreshed  by  glimpses  of  the  blue 
Atlantic,  and  by  the  distant  view  of  the  magnificent 
Orizaba,  towering,  with  his  spotless  diadem  of  snow, 
far  above  his  colossal  brethren  of  the  Andes.12  As 
they  advanced,  the  country  gradually  assumed  a  greener 
and  richer  aspect.  They  crossed  a  river,  probably  a 
tributary  of  the  Rio  de  la  Antigua,  with  difficulty,  on 
rafts,  and  on  some  broken  canoes  that  were  lying  on. 
the  banks.  They  now  came  in  view  of  very  different 
scenery, — wide-rolling  plains  covered  with  a  rich  car 
pet  of  verdure  and  overshadowed  by  groves  of  cocoas 
and  feathery  palms,  among  whose  tall,  slender  stems 

12  The  name  of  the  mountain  is  not  given,  and  probably  was  not 
known,  but  the  minute  description  in  the  MS.  of  Vera  Cruz  leaves  no 
doubt  that  it  was  the  one  mentioned  in  the  text.  "'Entre  las  quales 
asi  una  que  excede  en  mucha  altura  d  todas  las  otras  y  de  ella  se  vee 
y  descubre  gran  parte  de  la  mar  y  de  la  tierra,  y  es  tan  alta.  que  si  el 
dia  no  es  bien  claro,  no  se  puede  divisar  ni  ver  lo  alto  de  ella,  porque 
de  la  mitad  arriba  esta  toda  cubierta  de  nubes  :  y  algunos  veces, 
cuando  hace  muy  claro  dia,  se  vee  por  cima  de  las  dichas  nubes  lo  alto 
de  ella,  y  esta  tan  bianco  que  lo  jusgamos  por  nieve."  (Carta  de 
Vera  Cruz,  MS.)  This  huge  volcano  was  called  Citlaltepetl,  or  "  Star 
Mountain,"  by  the  Mexicans, — perhaps  from  the  fire  which  once 
issued  from  its  conical  summit,  far  above  the  clouds.  It  stands  in  the 
intendancy  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  rises,  according  to  Humboldt's  meas 
urement,  to  the  enormous  height  of  17,368  feet  above  the  ocean. 
(Essai  politique,  torn.  i.  p.  265.)  It  is  the  highest  peak  but  one  in  the 
whole  range  of  the  Mexican  Cordilleras. 


MARCH    TO    CEMPOALLA. 


333 


were  seen  deer,  and  various  wild  animals  with  which 
the  Spaniards  were  unacquainted.  Some  of  the  horse 
men  gave  chase  to  the  deer,  and  wounded,  but  did  not 
succeed  in  killing  them.  They  saw,  also,  pheasants 
and  other  birds ;  among  them  the  wild  turkey,  the 
pride  of  the  American  forest,  which  the  Spaniards 
described  as  a  species  of  peacock.13 

On  their  route  they  passed  through  some  deserted 
villages,  in  which  were  Indian  temples,  where  they 
found  censers,  and  other  sacred  utensils,  and  manu 
scripts  of  the  agave  fibre,  containing  the  picture- 
writing,  in  which,  probably,  their  religious  ceremonies 
were  recorded.  They  now  beheld,  also,  the  hideous 
spectacle,  with  which  they  became  afterwards  familiar, 
of  the  mutilated  corpses  of  victims  who  had  been 
sacrificed  to  the  accursed  deities  of  the  land.  The 
Spaniards  turned  with  loathing  and  indignation  from 
a  display  of  butchery  which  formed  so  dismal  a  con 
trast  to  the  fair  scenes  of  nature  by  which  they  were 
surrounded. 

They  held  their  course  along  the  banks  of  the  river, 
towards  its  source,  when  they  were  met  by  twelve 
Indians,  sent  by  the  cacique  of  Cempoalla  to  show  them 
the  way  to  his  residence.  At  night  they  bivouacked 
in  an  open  meadow,  where  they  were  well  supplied 
with  provisions  by  their  new  friends.  They  left  the 
stream  on  the  following  morning,  and,  striking  north 
erly  across  the  country,  came  upon  a  wide  expanse  of 
luxuriant  plains  and  woodland,  glowing  in  all  the 
splendor  of  tropical  vegetation.  The  branches  of  the 

J3  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  44. 


334  DISCOVERY    OF  MEXICO. 

stately  trees  were  gayly  festooned  with  clustering  vines 
of  the  dark-purple  grape,  variegated  convolvuli,  and 
other  flowering  parasites  of  the  most  brilliant  dyes. 
The  undergrowth  of  prickly  aloe,  matted  with  wild 
rose  and  honeysuckle,  made  in  many  places  an  almost 
impervious  thicket.  Amid  this  wilderness  of  sweet- 
smelling  buds  and  blossoms  fluttered  numerous  birds 
of  the  parrot  tribe,  and  clouds  of  butterflies,  whose 
gaudy  colors,  nowhere  so  gorgeous  as  in  the  ticrra 
caliente,  rivalled  those  of  the  vegetable  creation  ;  while 
birds  of  exquisite  song,  the  scarlet  cardinal,  and  the 
marvellous  mocking-bird,  that  comprehends  in  his  own 
notes  the  whole  music  of  a  forest,  filled  the  air  with 
delicious  melody.  The  hearts  of  the  stern  Conquerors 
were  not  very  sensible  to  the  beauties  of  nature.  But 
the  magical  charms  of  the  scenery  drew  forth  un 
bounded  expressions  of  delight,  and  as  they  wandered 
through  this  "  terrestrial  paradise,"  as  they  called  it, 
they  fondly  compared  it  to  the  fairest  regions  of  their 
own  sunny  land.14 

*4  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  32,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii.--Herrera,  Hist, 
general,  dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  i. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33, 
cap.  i. — "  Mui  hermosas  vegas  y  riberas  tales  y  tan  hermosas  que  en 
toda  Espana  no  pueden  ser  mejores  ansi  de  apa9ibles  a  la  vista,  como 
de  fructiferas."  (Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS.)  The  following  poetical 
apostrophe,  by  Lord  Morpeth,  to  the  scenery  of  Cuba,  equally  appli 
cable  to  that  of  the  tierra  calicnte,  will  give  the  reader  a  more  ani 
mated  picture  of  the  glories  of  these  sunny  climes  than  my  own  prose 
can.  The  verses,  which  have  never  been  published,  breathe  the 
generous  sentiment  characteristic  of  their  noble  author: 

"  Ye  tropic  forests  of  unfading  green, 

Where  the  palm  tapers  and  the  orange  glows, 

Where  the  light  bamboo  waves  her  feathery  screen, 

And  her  far  shade  the  matchless  ceiba  throws  ! 


MARCH    TO    CEMPOALLA.  335 

As  they  approached  the  Indian  city,  they  saw  abun 
dant  signs  of  cultivation,  in  the  trim  gardens  and 
orchards  that  lined  both  sides  of  the  road.  They  were 
now  met  by  parties  of  the  natives,  of  either  sex,  who  in 
creased  in  numbers  with  every  step  of  their  progress. 
The  women,  as  well  as  men,  mingled  fearlessly  among 
the  soldiers,  bearing  bunches  and  wreaths  of  flowers, 
with  which  they  decorated  the  neck  of  the  general's 
charger,  and  hung  a  chaplet  of  roses  about  his  helmet. 
Flowers  were  the  delight  of  this  people.  They  be 
stowed  much  care  in  their  cultivation,  in  which  they 
were  well  seconded  by  a  climate  of  alternate  heat  and 
moisture,  stimulating  the  soil  to  the  spontaneous  pro 
duction  of  every  form  of  vegetable  life.  The  same  re 
fined  taste,  as  we  shall  see,  prevailed  among  the  warlike 
Aztecs,  and  has  survived  the  degradation  of  the  nation 
in  their  descendants  of  the  present  day.15 

Many  of  the  women  appeared,  from  their  richer  dress 
and  numerous  attendants,  to  be  persons  of  rank.  They 
were  clad  in  robes  of  fine  cotton,  curiously  colored, 

"  Ye  cloudless  ethers  of  unchanging  blue, 

Save  where  the  rosy  streaks  of  eve  give  way 
To  the  clear  sapphire  of  your  midnight  hue. 
The  burnished  azure  of  your  perfect  day ! 

"  Yet  tell  me  not  my  native  skies  are  bleak, 

That  flushed  with  liquid  wealth  no  cane-fields  wave; 
For  Virtue  pines,  and  Manhood  dares  not  speak, 
And  Nature's  glories  brighten  round  the  Slave." 

*5  "  The  same  love  of  flowers,"  observes  one  of  the  most  delightful 
of  modern  travellers,  "  distinguishes  the  natives  now,  as  in  the  times 
of  Cortes.  And  it  presents  a  strange  anomaly,"  she  adds,  with  her 
usual  acuteness  ;  "  this  love  of  flowers  having  existed  along  with  their 
sanguinary  worship  and  barbarous  sacrifices."  Madame  Calderon  de 
la  Barca,  Life  in  Mexico,  vol.  i.  let.  12. 


336  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO, 

which  reached  from  the  neck — in  the  inferior  orders, 
from  the  waist — to  the  ankles.  The  men  wore  a  sort 
of  mantle  of  the  same  material,  a  la  Morisca,  in  the 
Moorish  fashion,  over  their  shoulders,  and  belts  or 
sashes  about  the  loins.  Both  sexes  had  jewels  and 
ornaments  of  gold  round  their  necks,  while  their  ears 
and  nostrils  were  perforated  with  rings  of  the  same  metal. 

Just  before  reaching  the  town,  some  horsemen  who 
had  ridden  in  advance  returned  with  the  amazing  intel 
ligence  "  that  they  had  been  near  enough  to  look  within 
the  gates,  and  found  the  houses  all  plated  with  bur 
nished  silver!"  On  entering  the  place,  the  silver  was 
found  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  brilliant  coating  of 
stucco,  with  which  the  principal  buildings  were  cov 
ered  ;  a  circumstance  which  produced  much  merriment 
among  the  soldiers  at  the  expense  of  their  credulous 
comrades.  Such  ready  credulity  is  a  proof  of  the  ex 
alted  state  of  their  imaginations,  which  were  prepared 
to  see  gold  and  silver  in  every  object  around  them.16 
The  edifices  of  the  better  kind  were  of  stone  and  lime, 
or  bricks  dried  in  the  sun ;  the  poorer  were  of  clay 
and  earth.  All  were  thatched  with  palm-leaves,  which, 
though  a  flimsy  roof,  apparently,  for  such  structures, 
were  so  nicely  interwoven  as  to  form  a  very  effectual 
protection  against  the  weather. 

The  city  was  said  to  contain  from  twenty  to  thirty 
thousand  inhabitants.  This  is  the  most  moderate  com 
putation,  and  not  improbable.17  Slowly  and  silently 

16  "  Con  la  imaginacion  que  llevaban,  i  buenos  deseos,  todo  se  les 
antojaba  plata  i  oro  lo  que  relucia."  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  32,  ap. 
Barcia,  torn.  ii. 

X7  This  is  Las  Casas'  estimate  (Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib,  3,  cap. 


RECEPTION  AT  CEMPOALLA. 


337 


the  little  army  paced  the  narrow  and  now  crowded 
streets  of  Cempoalla,  inspiring  the  natives  with  no 
greater  wonder  than  they  themselves  experienced  at 
the  display  of  a  policy  and  refinement  so  far  superior 
to  anything  they  had  witnessed  in  the  New  World.18 
The  cacique  came  out  in  front  of  his  residence  to  re 
ceive  them.  He  was  a  tall  and  very  corpulent  man, 
and  advanced  leaning  on  two  of  his  attendants.  He 
received  Cortes  and  his  followers  with  great  courtesy, 
and,  after  a  brief  interchange  of  civilities,  assigned  the 
army  its  quarters  in  a  neighboring  temple,  into  the 
spacious  court-yard  of  which  a  number  of  apartments 
opened,  affording  excellent  accommodations  for  the 
soldiery. 

Here  the  Spaniards  were  well  supplied  with  pro 
visions,  meat  cooked  after  the  fashion  of  the  country, 
and  maize  made  into  bread-cakes.  The  general  re 
ceived,  also,  a  present  of  considerable  value  from  the 
cacique,  consisting  of  ornaments  of  gold  and  fine  cot 
tons.  Notwithstanding  these  friendly  demonstrations, 
Cortes  did  not  relax  his  habitual  vigilance,  nor  neglect 
any  of  the  precautions  of  a  good  soldier.  On  his  route, 
indeed,  he  had  always  marched  in  order  of  battle,  well 
prepared  against  surprise.  In  his  present  quarters,  he 

121.)  Torquemada  hesitates  between  twenty,  fifty,  and  one  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand,  each  of  which  he  names  at  different  times  !  (Clavi- 
gero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  iii.  p.  26,  nota.)  The  place  was  gradually 
abandoned,  after  the  Conquest,  for  others,  in  a  more  favorable  posi 
tion,  probably,  for  trade.  Its  ruins  were  visible  at  the  close  of  the  last 
century.  See  Lorenzana,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  p.  39,  nota. 

18  "  Porque  viven  mas  politica  y  rasonablemente  que  ninguna  de 
las  gentes  que  hasta  oy  en  estas  partes  se  ha  visto."  Carta  de  Vera 
Cruz,  MS. 

VOL.  I.  29 


338  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

stationed  his  sentinels  with  like  care,  posted  his  small 
artillery  so  as  to  command  the  entrance,  and  forbade 
any  soldier  to  leave  the  camp  without  orders,  under 
pain  of  death.19 

The  following  morning,  Cortes,  accompanied  by  fifty 
of  his  men,  paid  a  visit  to  the  lord  of  Cempoalla  in 
his  own  residence.  It  was  a  building  of  stone  and 
lime,  standing  on  a  steep  terrace  of  earth,  and  was 
reached  by  a  flight  of  stone  steps.  It  may  have  borne 
resemblance  in  its  structure  to  some  of  the  ancient, 
buildings  found  in  Central  America.  Cortes,  leaving 
his  soldiers  in  the  court-  yard,  entered  the  mansion 
with  one  of  his  officers,  and  his  fair  interpreter,  Dona 
Marina.20  A  long  conference  ensued,  from  which  the 
Spanish  general  gathered  much  light  respecting  the 
state  of  the  country.  He  first  announced  to  the  chief 
that  he  was  the  subject  of  a  great  monarch  who  dwelt 
beyond  the  waters ;  that  he  had  come  to  the  Aztec 
shores  to  abolish  the  inhuman  worship  which  prevailed 
there,  and  to  introduce  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God. 
The  cacique  replied  that  their  gods,  wrho  sent  them 
the  sunshine  and  the  rain,  were  good  enough  for  them ; 
that  he  was  the  tributary  of  a  powerful  monarch  also, 
whose  capital  stood  on  a  lake  far  off  among  the  moun 
tains, — a  stern  prince,  merciless  in  his  exactions,  and, 
in  case  of  resistance,  or  any  offence,  sure  to  wreak 
his  vengeance  by  carrying  off  their  young  men  and 
maidens  to  be  sacrificed  to  his  deities.  Cortes  assured 

J9  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  121. — Carta  de 
Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  33,  ap.  Barcia,  torn.  ii. — 
Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  I. 

20  The  courteous  title  of  dona  is  usually  given  by  the  Spanish 
chroniclers  to  this  accomplished  Indian. 


PROCEEDINGS   WITH    THE    NATIVES.        339 

him  that  he  would  never  consent  to  such  enor 
mities  ;  he  had  been  sent  by  his  sovereign  to  redress 
abuses  and  to  punish  the  oppressor  ;21  and,  if  the 
Totonacs  would  be  true  to  him,  he  would  enable  them 
to  throw  off  the  detested  yoke  of  the  Aztecs. 

The  cacique  added  that  the  Totonac  territory  con 
tained  about  thirty  towns  and  villages,  which  could 
muster  a  hundred  thousand  warriors, — a  number  much 
exaggerated.22  There  were  other  provinces  of  the 
empire,  he  said,  where  the  Aztec  rule  was  equally 
odious ;  and  between  him  and  the  capital  lay  the  war 
like  republic  of  Tlascala,  which  had  always  maintained 
its  independence  of  Mexico.  The  fame  of  the  Span 
iards  had  gone  before  them,  and  he  was  well  acquainted 
with  their  terrible  victory  at  Tabasco.  But  still  he 
looked  with  doubt  and  alarm  to  a  rupture  with  "  the 
great  Montezuma,"  as  he  always  styled  him;  whose 
armies,  on  the  least  provocation,  would  pour  down 
from  the  mountain  regions  of  the  West,  and,  rushing 
over  the  plains  like  a  whirlwind,  sweep  off  the  wretched 
people  to  slavery  and  sacrifice  ! 

Cortes  endeavored  to  reassure  him,  by  declaring  that 
a  single  Spaniard  was  stronger  than  a  host  of  Aztecs. 
At  the  same  time,  it  was  desirable  to  know  what  nations 
would  co-operate  with  him,  not  so  much  on  his  account 
as  theirs,  that  he  might  distinguish  friend  from  foe  and 

21  "  He  had  come  only  to  redress  injuries,  to  protect  the  captive,  to 
succor  the  weak,  and  to  overthrow  tyranny."     (Gomara,  Cronica, 
cap.  33,  ap.  Barcia,  torn,  ii.)     Are  we  reading  the  adventures — it  is  the 
language — of  Don  Quixote  or  Amadis  de  Gaula? 

22  Ibid.,  cap.  36. — Cortes,  in    his  Second  Letter  to  the  Emperor 
Charles  V.,  estimates  the  number  of  fighting-men  at  50,000.     Relacion 
segunda,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  40. 


340 


DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 


know  whom  he  was  to  spare  in  this  war  of  extermina 
tion.  Having  raised  the  confidence  of  the  admiring 
chief  by  this  comfortable  and  politic  vaunt,  he  took  an 
affectionate  leave,  with  the  assurance  that  he  would 
shortly  return  and  concert  measures  for  their  future 
operations,  when  he  had  visited  his  ships  in  the 
adjoining  port  and  secured  a  permanent  settlement 
there.23 

The  intelligence  gained  by  Cortes  gave  great  satis 
faction  to  his  mind.  It  confirmed  his  former  views, 
and  showed,  indeed,  the  interior  of  the  monarchy  to 
be  in  a  state  far  more  distracted  than  he  had  supposed. 
If  he  had  before  scarcely  shrunk  from  attacking  the 
Aztec  empire,  in  the  true  spirit  of  a  knight  errant,  with 
his  single  arm,  as  it  were,  what  had  he  now  to  fear, 
when  one  half  of  the  nation  could  be  thus  marshalled 
against  the  other  ?  In  the  excitement  of  the  moment, 
his  sanguine  spirit  kindled  with  an  enthusiasm  which 
overleaped  every  obstacle.  He  communicated  his  own 
feelings  to  the  officers  about  him,  and,  before  a  blow 
was  struck,  they  already  felt  as  if  the  banners  of  Spain 
were  waving  in  triumph  from  the  towers-  of  Monte- 
zuma !  But  many  a  bloody  field  was  to  be  fought, 
many  a  peril  and  privation  to  be  encountered,  before 
that  consummation  could  be  attained. 

Taking  leave  of  the  hospitable  Indian,  on  the  follow 
ing  day  the  Spaniards  took  the  road  to  Chiahuitztla,24 

=3  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  121. — Ixtlilxochitl, 
Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  81.— Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  33, 
cap.  i. 

2*  The  historian,  with  the  aid  of  Clavigero,  himself  a  Mexican,  may 
rectify  frequent  blunders  of  former  writers,  in  the  orthography  of  Aztec 


PROCEEDINGS   WITH   THE    NATIVES.       341 

about  four  leagues  distant,  near  which  was  the  port 
discovered  by  Montejo,  where  their  ships  were  now 
riding  at  anchor.  They  were  provided  by  the  cacique 
with  four  hundred  Indian  porters,  tamancs,  as  they 
were  called,  to  transport  the  baggage.  These  men 
easily  carried  fifty  pounds'  weight  five  or  six  leagues  in 
a  day.  They  were  in  use  all  over  the  Mexican  empire, 
and  the  Spaniards  found  them  of  great  service,  hence 
forth,  in  relieving  the  troops  from  this  part  of  their 
duty.  They  passed  through  a  country  of  the  same 
rich,  voluptuous  character  as  that  which  they  had  lately 
traversed,  and  arrived  early  next  morning  at  the  Indian 
town,  perched  like  a  fortress  on  a  bold,  rocky  eminence 
that  commanded  the  Gulf.  Most  of  the  inhabitants 
had  fled,  but  fifteen  of  the  principal  men  remained, 
who  received  them  in  a  friendly  manner,  offering  the 
usual  compliments  of  flowers  and  incense.  The  people 
of  the  place,  losing  their  fears,  gradually  returned. 
While  conversing  with  the  chiefs,  the  Spaniards  were 
joined  by  the  worthy  cacique  of  Cempoalla,  borne  by 
his  men  on  a  litter.  He  eagerly  took  part  in  their 
deliberations.  The  intelligence  gained  here  by  Cortes 
confirmed  the  accounts  already  gathered  of  the  feelings 
and  resources  of  the  Totonac  nation. 

In  the  midst  of  their  conference,  they  were  inter 
rupted  by  a  movement  among  the  people,  and  soon 
afterwards  five  men  entered  the  great  square  or  market 
place,  where  they  were  standing.  By  their  lofty  port, 
their  peculiar  and  much  richer  dress,  they  seemed  not 

names.  Both  Robertson  and  Soli's  spell  the  name  of  this  place  Qitia- 
bislan.  Blunders  in  such  a  barbarous  nomenclature  must  be  admitted 
to  be  very  pardonable. 

29* 


342  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

to  be  of  the  same  race  as  these  Indians.  Their  dark, 
glossy  hair  was  tied  in  a  knot  on  the  top  of  the  head. 
They  had  bunches  of  flowers  in  their  hands,  and  were 
followed  by  several  attendants,  some  bearing  wands 
with  cords,  others  fans,  with  which  they  brushed  away 
the  flies  and  insects  from  their  lordly  masters.  As 
these  persons  passed  through  the  place,  they  cast  a 
haughty  look  on  the  Spaniards,  scarcely  deigning  to 
return  their  salutations.  They  were  immediately  joined, 
in  great  confusion,  by  the  Totonac  chiefs,  who  seemed 
anxious  to  conciliate  them  by  every  kind  of  attention. 

The  general,  much  astonished,  inquired  of  Marina 
what  it  meant.  She  informed  him  they  were  Aztec 
nobles,  empowered  to  receive  the  tribute  for  Monte- 
zuma.  Soon  after,  the  chiefs  returned  with  dismay 
painted  on  their  faces.  They  confirmed  Marina's 
statement,  adding  that  the  Aztecs  greatly  resented 
the  entertainment  afforded  the  Spaniards  without  the 
Emperor's  permission,  and  demanded  in  expiation 
twenty  young  men  and  women  for  sacrifice  to  the 
gods.  Cortes  showed  the  strongest  indignation  at 
this  insolence.  He  required  the  Totonacs  not  only  to 
refuse  the  demand,  but  to  arrest  the  persons  of  the 
collectors  and  throw  them  into  prison.  The  chiefs 
hesitated,  but  he  insisted  on  it  so  peremptorily  that 
they  at  length  complied,  and  the  Aztecs  were  seized, 
bound  hand  and  foot,  and  placed  under  a  guard. 

In  the  night,  the  Spanish  general  procured  the  escape 
of  two  of  them,  and  had  them  brought  secretly  before 
him.  He  expressed  his  regret  at  the  indignity  they 
had  experienced  from  the  Totonacs ;  told  them  he 
would  provide  means  for  their  flight,  and  to-morrow 


PROCEEDINGS   WITH    THE    NATIVES. 


343 


would  endeavor  to  obtain  the  release  of  their  compan 
ions.  He  desired  them  to  report  this  to  their  master, 
with  assurances  of  the  great  regard  the  Spaniards 
entertained  for  him,  notwithstanding  his  ungenerous 
behavior  in  leaving  them  to  perish  from  want  on  his 
barren  shores.  He  then  sent  the  Mexican  nobles  down 
to  the  port,  whence  they  were  carried  to  another  part 
of  the  coast  by  water,  for  fear  of  the  violence  of  the 
Totonacs.  These  were  greatly  incensed  at  the  escape 
of  the  prisoners,  and  would  have  sacrificed  the  re 
mainder  at  once,  but  for  the  Spanish  commander,  who 
evinced  the  utmost  horror  at  the  proposal,  and  ordered 
them  to  be  sent  for  safe  custody  on  board  the  fleet. 
Soon  after,  they  were  permitted  to  join  their  compan 
ions.  This  artful  proceeding,  so  characteristic  of  the 
policy  of  Cortes,  had,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  all  the 
effect  intended  on.  Montezuma.  It  cannot  be  com 
mended,  certainly,  as  in  the  true  spirit  of  chivalry. 
Yet  it  has  not  wanted  its  panegyrist  among  the  national 
historians  ! 25 

By  order  of  Cortes,  messengers  were  despatched  to 
the  Totonac  towns  to  report  what  had  been  done,  call 
ing  on  them  to  refuse  the  payment  of  further  tribute 
to  Montezuma.  But  there  was  no  need  of  messengers. 
The  affrighted  attendants  of  the  Aztec  lords  had  fled 
in  every  direction,  bearing  the  tidings,  which  spread 
like  wildfire  through  the  country,  of  the  daring  insult 
offered  to  the  majesty  of  Mexico.  The  astonished  In 
dians,  cheered  with  the  sweet  hope  of  regaining  their 

25  "  Grande  artifice,"  exclaims  Soils,  "  de  medirlo  que  disponiacon 
lo  que  recelaba ;  y  prudente  capitan  el  que  sabe  caminar  en  alcance 
de  las  contingencias"  !  Conquista,  lib.  2,  cap.  9. 


344 


DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 


ancient  liberty,  came  in  numbers  to  Chiahuitztla,  to 
see  and  confer  with  the  formidable  strangers.  The 
more  timid,  dismayed  at  the  thought  of  encountering 
the  power  of  Montezuma,  recommended  an  embassy 
to  avert  his  displeasure  by  timely  concessions.  But 
the  dexterous  management  of  Cortes  had  committed 
them  too  far  to  allow  any  reasonable  expectation  of 
indulgence  from  this  quarter.  After  some  hesitation, 
therefore,  it  was  determined  to  embrace  the  protection 
of  the  Spaniards,  and  to  make  one  bold  effort  for  the 
recovery  of  freedom.  Oaths  of  allegiance  were  taken 
by  the  chiefs  to  the  Spanish  sovereigns,  and  duly 
recorded  by  Godoy,  the  royal  notary.  Cortes,  satis 
fied  with  the  important  acquisition  of  so  many  vassals 
to  the  crown,  set  out  soon  after  for  the  destined  port, 
having  first  promised  to  revisit  Cempoalla,  where  his 
business  was  but  partially  accomplished.26 

The  spot  selected  for  the  new  city  was  only  half  a 
league  distant,  in  a  wide  and  fruitful  plain,  affording  a 
tolerable  haven  for  the  shipping.  Cortes  wras  not  long 
in  determining  the  circuit  of  the  wralls,  and  the  sites 
of  the  fort,  granary,  town-house,  temple,  .and  other 
public  buildings.  The  friendly  Indians  eagerly  assisted, 
by  bringing  materials,  stone,  lime,  wood,  and  bricks 
dried  in  the  sun.  Every  man  put  his  hand  to  the 
work.  The  general  labored  with  the  meanest  of  the 
soldiers,  stimulating  their  exertions  by  his  example  as 
well  as  voice.  In  a  few  weeks  the  task  was  accom- 

26  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  81.— Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes, 
ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  40. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  34-36,  ap.  Barcia,  torn, 
ii. — Bernal  Diaz,  Conquista,  cap.  46,  47. — Herrera,  Hist,  general, 
dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  10,  n. 


FOUNDATION    OF   VERA   CRUZ. 


345 


plished,  and  a  town  rose  up,  which,  if  not  quite  v/orthy 
of  the  aspiring  name  it  bore,  answered  most  of  the 
purposes  for  which  it  was  intended.  It  served  as  a 
good  point  d' appiti  for  future  operations;  a  place  of 
retreat  for  the  disabled,  as  well  as  for  the  army  in  case 
of  reverses ;  a  magazine  for  stores,  and  for  such  arti 
cles  as  might  be  received  from  or  sent  to  the  mother- 
country  ;  a  port  for  the  shipping  ;  a  position  of  sufficient 
strength  to  overawe  the  adjacent  country.27 

It  was  the  first  colony — the  fruitful  parent  of  so  many 
others — in  New  Spain.  It  was  hailed  with  satisfaction 
by  the  simple  natives,  who  hoped  to  repose  in  safety 
under  its  protecting  shadow.  Alas  !  they  could  not 
read  the  future,  or  they  would  have  found  no  cause  to 
rejoice  in  this  harbinger  of  a  revolution  more  tremen 
dous  than  any  predicted  by  their  bards  and  prophets. 
It  was  not  the  good  Quetzalcoatl  who  had  returned  to 
claim  his  own  again,  bringing  peace,  freedom,  and 
civilization  in  his  train.  Their  fetters,  indeed,  would 
be  broken,  and  their  wrongs  be  amply  avenged  on  the 

2"  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. — Bernal  Diaz,  Conquista,  cap.  48. — 
Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  i. — Declaracion  de  Mon- 
tejo,  MS. — Notwithstanding  the  advantages  of  its  situation,  La  Villa 
Rica  was  abandoned  in  a  few  years  for  a  neighboring  position  to  the 
south,  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  Antigua.  This  second  settle 
ment  was  known  by  the  name  of  Vera  Cruz  Vieja,  "  Old  Vera  Cruz." 
Early  in  the  seventeenth  century  this  place,  also,  was  abandoned  for 
the  present  city,  Nucva  Vera  Cruz,  or  New  Vera  Cruz,  as  it  is  called. 
(See  ante,  chap.  5,  note  8.)  Of  the  true  cause  of  these  successive 
migrations  we  are  ignorant.  If,  as  is  pretended,  it  was  on  account  of 
the  vomito,  the  inhabitants,  one  would  suppose,  can  have  gained  little 
by  the  exchange.  (See  Humboldt,  Essai  politique,  torn.  ii.  p.  210.) 
A  want  of  attention  to  these  changes  has  led  to  much  confusion  and 
inaccuracy  in  the  ancient  maps.  Lorenzana  has  not  escaped  them  in 
his  chart  and  topographical  account  of  the  route  ot  Cortes. 
P* 


346  AZTEC   CIVILIZATION. 

proud  head  of  the  Aztec.  But  it  was  to  be  by  that 
strong  arm  which  should  bow  down  equally  the  op 
pressor  and  the  oppressed.  The  light  of  civilization 
would  be  poured  on  their  land.  But  it  would  be  the 
light  of  a  consuming  fire,  before  which  their  barbaric 
glory,  their  institutions,  their  very  existence  and  name 
as  a  nation,  would  wither  and  become  extinct !  Their 
doom  was  sealed  when  the  white  man  had  set  his  foot 
on  their  soil. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ANOTHER  AZTEC  EMBASSY.  -  DESTRUCTION  OF  TFIE 
IDOLS.  —  DESPATCHES  SENT  TO  SPAIN.  -  CONSPIRACY 
IN  THE  CAMP.  --  THE  FLEET  SUNK. 


WHILE  the  Spaniards  were  occupied  with  their  new 
settlement,  they  were  surprised  by  the  presence  of  an 
embassy  from  Mexico.  The  account  of  the  imprison 
ment  of  the  royal  collectors  had  spread  rapidly  through 
the  country.  When  it  reached  the  capital,  all  were 
filled  with  amazement  at  the  unprecedented  daring 
of  the  strangers.  In  Montezuma  every  other  feeling, 
even  that  of  fear,  was  swallowed  up  in  indignation  ; 
and  he  showed  his  wonted  energy  in  the  vigorous 
preparations  which  he  instantly  made  to  punish  his  re 
bellious  vassals  and  to  avenge  the  insult  offered  to  the 
majesty  of  the  empire.  But  when  the  Aztec  officers 
liberated  by  Cortes  reached  the  capital  and  reported 
the  courteous  treatment  they  had  received  from  the 
Spanish  commander,  Montezuma'  s  anger  was  miti 
gated,  and  his  superstitious  fears,  getting  the  ascend 
ency  again,  induced  him  to  resume  his  former  timid 
and  conciliatory  policy.  He  accordingly  sent  an  em 
bassy,  consisting  of  two  youths,  his  nephews,  and  four 
of  the  ancient  nobles  of  his  court,  to  the  Spanish  quar- 

(347) 


348  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

ters.  He  provided  them,  in  his  usual  munificent  spirit, 
with  a  princely  donation  of  gold,  rich  cotton  stuffs, 
and  beautiful  mantles  of  the  plumaje,  or  feather  em 
broidery.  The  envoys,  on  coming  before  Cortes,  pre 
sented  him  with  the  articles,  at  the  same  time  offering 
the  acknowledgments  of  their  master  for  the  courtesy 
he  had  shown  in  liberating  his  captive  nobles.  He  was 
surprised  and  afflicted,  however,  that  the  Spaniards 
should  have  countenanced  his  faithless  vassals  in  their 
rebellion.  He  had  no  doubt  they  were  the  strangers 
whose  arrival  had  been  so  long  announced  by  the 
oracles,  and  of  the  same  lineage  with  himself.1  From 
deference  to  them  he  would  spare  the  Totoriacs,  while 
they  were  present.  But  the  time  for  vengeance  would 
come. 

Cortes  entertained  the  Indian  chieftains  with  frar.k 
hospitality.  At  the  same  time,  he  took  care  to  make 
such  a  display  of  his  resources  as,  while  it  amused  their 
minds,  should  leave  a  deep  impression  of  his  power. 
He  then,  after  a  few  trifling  gifts,  dismissed  them  with 
a  conciliatory  message  to  their  master,  and  the  assur 
ance  that  he  should  soon  pay  his  respects  to  him  in  his 
capital,  where  all  misunderstanding  between  them  would 
be  readily  adjusted. 

The  Totonac  allies  could  scarcely  credit  their  senses, 
when  they  gathered  the  nature  of  this  interview.  Not 
withstanding  the  presence  of  the  Spaniards,  they  had 
looked  with  apprehension  to  the  consequences  of  their 

1  "  Teniendo  respeto  &  que  tiene  por  cierto,  que  somos  los  que  sus 
antepassados  les  auian  dicho,  que  auian  de  venir  &  sus  tierras,  e  que 
deuemos  de  ser  de  sus  linajes."  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  48. 


STRICT  DISCIPLINE.  349 

rash  act ;  and  their  feelings  of  admiration  were  height 
ened  into  awe  for  the  strangers  who,  at  this  distance, 
could  exercise  so  mysterious  an  influence  over  the  terri 
ble  Montezuma.2 

Not  long  after,  the  Spaniards  received  an  application 
from  the  cacique  of  Cempoalla  to  aid  him  in  a  dispute 
in  which  he  was  engaged  with  a  neighboring  city. 
Cortes  marched  with  a  part  of  his  forces  to  his  support. 
On  the  route,  one  Morla,  a  common  soldier,  robbed  a 
native  of  a  couple  of  fowls.  Cortes,  indignant  at  this 
violation  of  his  orders  before  his  face,  and  aware  of  the 
importance  of  maintaining  a  reputation  for  good  faith 
with  his  allies,  commanded  the  man  to  be  hung  up, 
at  once,  by  the  roadside,  in  face  of  the  whole  army. 
Fortunately  for  the  poor  wretch,  Pedro  de  Alvarado, 
the  future  conqueror  of  Quiche,  was  present,  and  ven 
tured  to  cut  down  the  body  while  there  was  yet  life  in 
it.  He,  probably,  thought  enough  had  been  done  for 
example,  and  the  loss  of  a  single  life,  unnecessarily; 
was  more  than  the  little  band  could  afford.  The  an 
ecdote  is  characteristic,  as  showing  the  strict  discipline 
maintained  by  Cortes  over  his  men,  and  the  freedom 
assumed  by  his  captains,  who  regarded  him  on  terms 
nearly  of  equality, — as  a  fellow-adventurer  with  them 
selves.  This  feeling  of  companionship  led  to  a  spirit 
of  insubordination  among  them,  which  made  his  own 
post  as  commander  the  more  delicate  and  difficult. 

On  reaching  the  hostile  city,  but  a  few  leagues  from 
the  coast,  they  were  received  in  an  amicable  manner ; 
and  Cortes,  who  was  accompanied  by  his  allies,  had 

2  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  37. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap. 
82. 

VOL.  I.  30 


350  DISCOVERY    OF  MEXICO. 

the  satisfaction  of  reconciling  these  different  branches 
of  the  Totonac  family  with  each  other,  without  blood 
shed.  He  then  returned  to  Cempoalla,  where  he  was 
welcomed  with  joy  by  the  people,  who  were  now  im 
pressed  with  as  favorable  an  opinion  of  his  moderation 
and  justice  as  they  had  before  been  of  his  valor.  In 
token  of  his  gratitude,  the  Indian  cacique  delivered  to 
the  general  eight  Indian  maidens,  richly  dressed,  wear 
ing  collars  and  ornaments  of  gold,  with  a  number  of 
female  slaves  to  wait  on  them.  They  were  daughters 
of  the  principal  chiefs,  and  the  cacique  requested  that 
the  Spanish  captains  might  take  them  as  their  wives. 
Cortes  received  the  damsels  courteously,  but  told  the 
cacique  they  must  first  be  baptized,  as  the  sons  of  the 
Church  could  have  no  commerce  with  idolaters.3  He 
then  declared  that  it  was  a  great  object  of  his  mission 
to  wean  the  natives  from  their  heathenish  abominations, 
and  besought  the  Totonac  lord  to  allow  his  idols  to  be 
cast  down,  and  the  symbols  of  the  true  faith  to  be 
erected  in  their  place. 

To  this  the  other  answered,  as  before,  that  his  gods 
were  good  enough  for  him ;  nor  could  all  the  persua 
sion  of  the  general,  nor  the  preaching  of  Father  Olmedo, 
induce  him  to  acquiesce.  Mingled  with  his  polythe 
ism,  he  had  conceptions  of  a  Supreme  and  Infinite 
Being,  Creator  of  the  Universe,  and  his  darkened 
understanding  could  not  comprehend  how  such  a  Being 
could  condescend  to  take  the  form  of  humanity,  with 

3  "  De  buena  gana  recibirian  las  Doncellas  como  fuesen  Chrisxianas  ; 
porque  de  otra  manera,  no  era  permitido  a  hombres,  hijos  de  la  Igle- 
sia  de  Dios,  tener  comercio  con  idolatras."  Herrera,  Hist,  general, 
dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  13. 


DESTRUCTION    OF    THE    IDOLS.  351 

its  infirmities  and  ills,  and  wander  about  on  earth,  the 
voluntary  victim  of  persecution  from  the  hands  of 
those  whom  his  breath  had  called  into  existence.4  He 
plainly  told  the  Spaniards  that  he  would  resist  any  vio 
lence  offered  to  his  gods,  who  would,  indeed,  avenge 
the  act  themselves,  by  the  instant  destruction  of  their 
enemies. 

But  the  zeal  of  the  Christians  had  mounted  too  high 
to  be  cooled  by  remonstrance  or  menace.  During 
their  residence  in  the  land,  they  had  witnessed  more 
than  once  the  barbarous  rites  of  the  natives,  their  cruel 
sacrifices  of  human  victims,  and  their  disgusting  can 
nibal  repasts.5  Their  souls  sickened  at  these  abomina 
tions,  and  they  agreed  with  one  voice  to  stand  by  their 
general,  when  he  told  them  that  "  Heaven  would  never 
smile  on  their  enterprise  if  they  countenanced  such 
atrocities,  and  that,  for  his  own  part,  he  was  resolved 
the  Indian  idols  should  be  demolished  that  very  hour, 
if  it  cost  him  his  life."  To  postpone  the  work  of  con 
version  was  a  sin.  In  the  enthusiasm  of  the  moment, 

4  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  13. — Las  Casas,  Hist, 
de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  122. — Herrera  has  put  a  very  edifying 
harangue,  on  this  occasion,  into  the  mouth  of  Cortes,  which  savors 
much  more  of  the  priest  than  the  soldier.    Does  he  not  confound  him 
with  Father  Olmedo? 

5  "  Esto  habemos  visto,"  says  the  Letter  of  Vera  Cruz,  "  algunos  de 
nosotros,  y  los  que  lo  han  visto  dizen  que  es  la  mas  terrible  y  la  mas 
espantosa  cosa  de  ver  que  jamas  han  visto."     Still  more  strongly 
speaks  Bernal  Diaz.     (Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  51.)     The  Letter 
computes  that  there  were  fifty  or  sixty  persons  thus  butchered  in  each 
of  the  teocallis  every  year ;  giving  an  annual  consumption,  in  the 
countries  which  the  Spaniards  had  then  visited,  of  three  or  four  thou 
sand   victims!     (Carta   de  Vera   Cruz,  MS.)     However   loose   this 
arithmetic  may  be,  the  general  fact  is  appalling. 


352  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

the  dictates  of  policy  and  ordinary  prudence  were  alike 
unheeded. 

Scarcely  waiting  for  his  commands,  the  Spaniards 
moved  towards  one  of  the  principal  teocallis,  or  tem 
ples,  which  rose  high  on  a  pyramidal  foundation,  with 
a  steep  ascent  of  stone  steps  in  the  middle.  The  ca 
cique,  divining  their  purpose,  instantly  called  his  men 
to  arms.  The  Indian  warriors  gathered  from  all  quar 
ters,  with  shrill  cries  and  clashing  of  weapons ;  while 
the  priests,  in  their  dark  cotton  robes,  with  dishevelled 
tresses,  matted  with  blood,  flowing  wildly  over  their 
shoulders,  rushed  frantic  among  the  natives,  calling  on 
them  to  protect  their  gods  from  violation  !  All  was 
now  confusion,  tumult,  and  warlike  menace,  where  so 
lately  had  been  peace  and  the  sweet  brotherhood  of 
nations. 

Cortes  took  his  usual  prompt  and  decided  measures. 
He  caused  the  cacique  and  some  of  the  principal  in 
habitants  and  priests  to  be  arrested  by  his  soldiers.  He 
then  commanded  them  to  quiet  the  people,  for,  if  an 
arrow  was  shot  against  a  Spaniard,  it  should  cost  every 
one  of  them  his  life.  Marina,  at  the  same  time,  rep 
resented  the  madness  of  resistance,  and  reminded  the 
cacique  that  if  he  now  alienated  the  affections  of  the 
Spaniards  he  would  be  left  without  a  protector  against 
the  terrible  vengeance  of  Montezuma.  These  temporal 
considerations  seem  to  have  had  more  weight  with  the 
Totonac  chieftain  than  those  of  a  more  spiritual  nature. 
He  covered  his  face  with  his  hands,  exclaiming  that  the 
gods  would  avenge  their  own  wrongs. 

The  Christians  were  not  slow  in  availing  themselves 
of  his  tacit  acquiescence.  Fifty  soldiers,  at  a  signal 


DESTRUCTION    OF    THE    IDOLS.  353 

from  their  general,  sprang  up  the  great  stairway  of  the 
temple,  entered  the  building  on  the  summit,  the  walls 
of  which  were  black  with  human  gore,  tore  the  huge 
wooden  idols  from  their  foundations,  and  dragged  them 
to  the  edge  of  the  terrace.  Their  fantastic  forms  and 
features,  conveying  a  symbolic  meaning,  which  was 
lost  on  the  Spaniards,  seemed  in  their  eyes  only  the 
hideous  lineaments  of  Satan.  With  great  alacrity  they 
rolled  the  colossal  monsters  down  the  steps  of  the 
pyramid,  amidst  the  triumphant  shouts  of  their  own 
companions,  and  the  groans  and  lamentations  of  the 
natives.  They  then  consummated  the  whole  by  burning 
them  in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  multitude. 

The  same  effect  followed  as  in  Cozumel.  The  To- 
tonacs,  finding  their  deities  incapable  of  preventing  or 
even  punishing  this  profanation  of  their  shrines,  con 
ceived  a  mean  opinion  of  their  power,  compared  with 
that  of  the  mysterious  and  formidable  strangers.  The 
floor  and  walls  of  the  tcocalli  were  then  cleansed,  by 
command  of  Cortes,  from  their  foul  impurities ;  a  fresh 
coating  of  stucco  was  laid  on  them  by  the  Indian 
masons ;  and  an  altar  was  raised,  surmounted  by  a  lofty 
cross,  and  hung  with  garlands  of  roses.  A  procession 
was  next  formed,  in  which  some  of  the  principal  To- 
tonac  priests,  exchanging  their  dark  mantles  for  robes 
of  white,  carried  lighted  candles  in  their  hands  ;  while 
an  image  of  the  Virgin,  half  smothered  under  the 
weight  of  flowers,  was  borne  aloft,  and,  as  the  pro 
cession  climbed  the  steps  of  the  temple,  was  depos 
ited  above  the  altar.  Mass  was  performed  by  Father 
Olmedo,  and  the  impressive  character  of  the  ceremony 
and  the  passionate  eloquence  of  the  good  priest  touched 
30* 


354 


DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 


the  feelings  of  the  motley  audience,  until  Indians  as 
well  as  Spaniards,  if  we  may  trust  the  chronicler,  were 
melted  into  tears  and  audible  sobs.  The  Protestant 
missionary  seeks  to  enlighten  the  understanding  of  his 
convert  by  the  pale  light  of  reason.  But  the  bolder 
Catholic,  kindling  the  spirit  by  the  splendor  of  the 
spectacle  and  by  the  glowing  portrait  of  an  agonized 
Redeemer,  sweeps  along  his  hearers  in  a  tempest  of 
passion,  that  drowns  everything  like  reflection.  He 
has  secured  his  convert,  however,  by  the  hold  on  his 
affections, — an  easier  and  more  powerful  hold,  with  the 
untutored  savage,  than  reason. 

An  old  soldier  named  Juan  de  Torres,  disabled  by 
bodily  infirmity,  consented  to  remain  and  watch  over 
the  sanctuary  and  instruct  the  natives  in  its  services. 
Cortes  then,  embracing  his  Totonac  allies,  now  bro 
thers  in  religion  as  in  arms,  set  out  once  more  for 
the  Villa  Rica,  where  he  had  some  arrangements  to 
complete  previous  to  his  departure  for  the  capital.6 

He  was  surprised  to  find  that  a  Spanish  vessel  had 
arrived  there  in  his  absence,  having  on  board  twelve 
soldiers  and  two  horses.  It  was  under  the  command 
of  a  captain  named  Saucedo,  a  cavalier  of  the  ocean, 
who  had  followed  in  the  track  of  Cortes  in  quest  of 
adventure.  Though  a  small,  they  afforded  a  very  sea 
sonable  body  of  recruits  for  the  little  army.  By  these 
men,  the  Spaniards  were  informed  that  Velasquez,  the 
governor  of  Cuba,  had  lately  received  a  warrant  from 

6  Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  122. — Bernal 
Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  51,  52.— Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  43. 
— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  13,  14. — Ixtlilxochitl, 
Hist.  Chich.,  MS.  cap.  83. 


DESPATCHES    SENT   TO    SPAIN. 


355 


the  Spanish  government  to  establish  a  colony  in  the 
newly-discovered  countries. 

Cortes  now  resolved  to  put  a  plan  in  execution  which 
he  had  been  some  time  meditating.  He  knew  that  all 
the  late  acts  of  the  colony,  as  well  as  his  own  authority, 
would  fall  to  the  ground  without  the  royal  sanction. 
He  knew,  too,  that  the  interest  of  Velasquez,  which 
was  great  at  court,  would,  so  soon  as  he  was  acquainted 
with  his  secession,  be  wholly  employed  to  circumvent 
and  crush  him.  He  resolved  to  anticipate  his  move 
ments,  and  to  send  a  vessel  to  Spain  with  despatches 
addressed  to  the  emperor  himself,  announcing  the 
nature  and  extent  of  his  discoveries,  and  to  obtain, 
if  possible,  the  confirmation  of  his  proceedings.  In 
order  to  conciliate  his  master's  good  will,  he  further 
proposed  to  send  him  such  a  present  as  should  suggest 
lofty  ideas  of  the  importance  of  his  own  services  to 
the  crown.  To  effect  this,  the  royal  fifth  he  consid 
ered  inadequate.  He  conferred  with  his  officers,  and 
persuaded  them  to  relinquish  their  share  of  the  treas 
ure.  At  his  instance,  they  made  a  similar  application 
to  the  soldiers  :  representing  that  it  was  the  earnest 
wish  of  the  general,  who  set  the  example  by  resigning 
his  own  fifth,  equal  to  the  share  of  the  crown.  It  was 
but  little  that  each  man  was  asked  to  surrender,  but 
the  whole  would  make  a  present  worthy  of  the  monarch 
for  whom  it  was  intended.  By  this  sacrifice  they  might 
hope  to  secure  his  indulgence  for  the  past  and  his  favor 
for  the  future ;  a  temporary  sacrifice,  that  would  be 
well  repaid  by  the  security  of  the  rich  possessions 
which  awaited  them  in  Mexico.  A  paper  was  then 
circulated  among  the  soldiers,  which  all  who  were  dis- 


356  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

posed  to  relinquish  their  shares  were  requested  to  sign. 
Those  who  declined  should  have  their  claims  respected, 
and  receive  the  amount  due  to  them.  No  one  refused 
to  sign  ;  thus  furnishing  another  example  of  the  extraor 
dinary  power  obtained  by  Cortes  over  these  rapacious 
spirits,  who,  at  his  call,  surrendered  up  the  very  treas 
ures  which  had  been  the  great  object  of  their  hazardous 
enterprise  ! 7 

7  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  53. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist. 
Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  82.— Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. 

A  complete  inventory  of  the  articles  received  from  Montezuma  is 
contained  in  the  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz. — The  following  are  a  few  of 
the  items. 

Two  collars  made  of  gold  and  precious  stones. 

A  hundred  ounces  of  gold  ore,  that  their  Highnesses  might  see  in 
what  state  the  gold  came  from  the  mines. 

Two  birds  made  of  green  feathers,  with  feet,  beaks,  and  eyes  of 
gold, — and,  in  the  same  piece  with  them,  animals  of  gold,  resembling 
snails. 

A  large  alligator's  head  of  gold. 

A  bird  of  green  feathers,  with  feet,  beak,  and  eyes  of  gold. 

Two  birds  made  of  thread  and .  feather-work,  having  the  quills  of 
their  wings  and  tails,  their  feet,  eyes,  and  the  ends  of  their  beaks,  of 
gold, — standing  upon  two  reeds  covered  with  gold,  which  are  raised 
on  balls  of  feather-work  and  gold  embroidery,  one  white  and  the 
other  yellow,  with  seven  tassels  of  feather-work  hanging  from  each 
of  them. 

A  large  silver  wheel  weighing  forty-eight  marks,  several  bracelets 
and  leaves  of  the  same  metal,  together  with  five  smaller  shields,  the 
whole  weighing  sixty-two  marks  of  silver. 

A  box  of  feather-work  embroidered  on  leather,  with  a  large  plate 
of  gold,  weighing  seventy  ounces,  in  the  midst. 

Two  pieces  of  cloth  woven  with  feathers ;  another  with  variegated 
colors ;  and  another  worked  with  black  and  white  figures. 

A  large  wheel  of  gold,  with  figures  of  strange  animals  on  it,  and 
worked  with  tufts  of  leaves ;  weighing  three  thousand  eight  hundred 
ounces. 


DESPATCHES   SENT    TO    SPAIN. 


357 


He  accompanied  this  present  with  a  letter  to  the 
emperor,  in  which  he  gave  a  full  account  of  all  that 
had  befallen  him  since  his  departure  from  Cuba;  of 
his  various  discoveries,  battles,  and  traffic  with  the 
natives ;  their  conversion  to  Christianity ;  his  strange 
perils  and  sufferings ;  many  particulars  respecting  the 
lands  he  had  visited,  and  such  as  he  could  collect  in 
regard  to  the  great  Mexican  monarchy  and  its  sov 
ereign.  He  stated  his  difficulties  with  the  governor 
of  Cuba,  the  proceedings  of  the  army  in  reference  to 
colonization,  and  besought  the  emperor  to  confirm 
their  acts,  as  well  as  his  own  authority,  expressing  his 
entire  confidence  that  he  should  be  able,  with  the  aid 
of  his  brave  followers,  to  place  the  Castilian  crown  in 
possession  of  this  great  Indian  empire.8 

This  was  the  celebrated  First  Letter,  as  it  is  called, 
of  Cortes,  which  has  hitherto  eluded  every  search  that 
has  been  made  for  it  in  the  libraries  of  Europe.9  Its 

A  fan  of  variegated  feather-work,  with  thirty-seven  rods  plated 
with  gold. 

Five  fans  of  variegated  feathers, — four  of  which  have  ten,  and  the 
other  thirteen,  rods  embossed  with  gold. 

Sixteen  shields  of  precious  stones,  with  feathers  of  various  colors 
hanging  from  their  rims. 

Two  pieces  of  cotton  very  richly  wrought  with  black  and  white 
embroidery. 

Six  shields,  each  covered  with  a  plate  of  gold,  with  something 
resembling  a  golden  mitre  in  the  centre. 

8  "  Una  muy  larga  Carta,"  says  Gomara,  in  his  loose  analysis  of  it. 
Cronica,  cap.  40. 

9  Dr.   Robertson  states  that  the  Imperial  Library  at  Vienna  was 
examined  for  this  document,  at  his  instance,  but  without  success. 
(History  of  America,  vol.  ii.  note  70.)     I  have  not  been  more  fortunate 
in  the  researches  made  for  me  in  the  British  Museum,  the  Royal 
Library  of  Paris,  and  that  of  the  Academy  of  History  at  Madrid. 


358  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

existence  is  fully  established  by  references  to  it,  both 
in  his  own  subsequent  letters,  and  in  the  writings  of 
contemporaries.10  Its  general  purport  is  given  by  his 

The  last  is  a  great  depository  for  the  colonial  historical  documents ; 
but  a  very  thorough  inspection  of  its  papers  makes  it  certain  that  this 
is  wanting  to  the  collection.  As  the  emperor  received  it  on  the  eve 
of  his  embarkation  for  Germany,  and  the  Letter  of  Vera  Cruz,  for 
warded  at  the  same  time,  is  in  the  library  of  Vienna,  this  would  seem, 
after  all,  to  be  the  most  probable  place  of  its  retreat. 

10  "  By  a  ship,"  says  Cortes,  in  the  very  first  sentence  of  his  Second 
Letter  to  the  Emperor,  "  which  I  despatched  from  this  your  sacred 
majesty's  province  of  New  Spain  on  the  i6th  of  ]uly  of  the  year  1519, 
I  sent  your  highness  a  very  long  and  particular  relation  of  what  had 
happened  from  my  coming  hither  up  to  that  time."  (Rel.  Seg.  de 
Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  38.)  "  Cortes  wrote,"  says  Bernal  Diaz,  "  as 
he  informed  us,  an  accurate  report,  but  we  did  not  see  his  letter." 
(Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  53.)  (Also,  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind., 
MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  i,  and  Gomara,  ut  supra.)  Were  it  not  for  these 
positive  testimonies,  one  might  suppose  that  the  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz 
had  suggested  an  imaginary  letter  of  Cortes.  Indeed,  the  copy  of  the 
former  document  belonging  to  the  Spanish  Academy  of  History — 
and  perhaps  the  original  at  Vienna — bears  the  erroneous  title  of 
"  Primera  Relacion  de  Cortes."* 


*  [There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  "  Letter  of  Vera  Cruz"  is  the 
document  referred  to  by  Cortes,  writing  in  October,  1520,  as  the 
"  muy  larga  y  particular  Relacion"  which  he  had  "despatched"  to 
the  emperor  in  the  summer  of  the  preceding  year.  This  language 
would  not  necessarily  imply  that  the  letter  so  described  bore  his  own 
signature,  while  it  was  a  natural  mode  of  designating  one  of  which  he 
was  the  real  author.  It  is  easy  to  understand  why,  holding  as  yet 
no  direct  commission  from  the  crown,  he  should  have  been  less  solicit 
ous  to  appear  as  the  narrator  of  his  own  exploits  than  to  give  them 
an  appearance  of  official  sanction  and  cover  up  his  irregularity  in  not. 
addressing  his  report  to  Velasquez,  the  official  superior  from  whose 
control  he  was  seeking  to  emancipate  himself.  Nor  is  it  necessary,  in 
accepting  this  hypothesis,  to  reject  the  statement  of  Bernal  Diaz  that 
Cortes  sent  to  the  emperor  a  relation  under  his  own  hand  which  he  did 
not  show  to  his  companions.  It  seems  to  have  been  his  habit  on  sub- 


DESPATCHES   SENT    TO    SPAIN. 


359 


chaplain,  Gomara.  The  importance  of  the  document 
has  doubtless  been  much  overrated ;  and,  should  it 
ever  come  to  light,  it  will  probably  be  found  to  add 
little  of  interest  to  the  matter  contained  in  the  letter 
from  Vcra  Cruz,  which  has  formed  the  basis  of  the 
preceding  portion  of  our  narrative.  Cortes  had  no 
sources  of  information  beyond  those  open  to  the  authors 
of  the  latter  document.  He  was  even  less  full  and 
frank  in  his  communications,  if  it  be  true  that  he  sup 
pressed  all  notice  of  the  discoveries  of  his  two  imme 
diate  predecessors.11 

The  magistrates  of  the  Villa  Rica,  in  their  epistle, 
went  over  the  same  ground  with  Cortes ;  concluding 
with  an  emphatic  representation  of  the  misconduct  of 
Velasquez,  whose  venality,  extortion,  and  selfish  de 
votion  to  his  personal  interests,  to  the  exclusion  of 
those  of  his  sovereigns  as  well  as  of  his  own  followers, 
they  placed  in  a  most  clear  and  unenviable  light." 

11  This  is  the  imputation  of  Bernal  Diaz,  reported  on  hearsay,  as 
he  admits  he  never  saw  the  letter  himself.     Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  54. 

12  "  Fingiendo  mill  cautelas,"  says  Las  Casas,  politely,  of  this  part 
of  the  letter,   "  y  afirmando  otras  muchas  falsedades  e  mentiras"  1 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  122. 


sequent  occasions,  when  sending  a  detailed  report,  to  accompany  it 
with  a  briefer  and  more  private  letter,  giving  a  summary  of  what  was 
contained  in  the  longer  document,  sometimes  with  the  addition  of 
other  matter,  to  be  read  by  the  emperor  himself.  One  such  letter, 
cited  hereafter  (vol.  iii.p.  266,  note),  mentions  "  una  relacion  bien 
larga  y  particular,"  which  he  was  sending  under  the  same  date.  That 
letters  of  this  kind  should  not  always  have  been  preserved  can  excite 
no  surprise  ;  but  it  is  highly  improbable  that  the  same  fate  should 
have  befallen  a  full  official  report,  the  first  of  a  series  otherwise  complete 
and  disseminated  by  means  of  copies. — ED.] 


360  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

They  implored  the  government  not  to  sanction  his  in 
terference  with  the  new  colony,  which  would  be  fatal 
to  its  welfare,  but  to  commit  the  undertaking  to  Her- 
nando  Cortes,  as  the  man  most  capable,  by  his  ex 
perience  and  conduct,  of  bringing  it  to  a  glorious 
termination.13 

With  this  letter  went  also  another  in  the  name  of  the 
citizen-soldiers  of  Villa  Rica,  tendering  their  dutiful 
submission  to  the  sovereigns,  and  requesting  the  con 
firmation  of  their  proceedings,  above  all,  thai  of  Cortes 
as  their  general. 

The  selection  of  the  agents  for  the  mission  was  a 
delicate  matter,  as  on  the  result  might  depend  the 
future  fortunes  of  the  colony  and  its  commander. 

J3  This  document  is  of  the  greatest  value  and  interest,  coming  as  it 
does  from  the  best-instructed  persons  in  the  camp.  It  presents  an 
elaborate  record  of  all  then  known  of  the  countries  they  had  visited, 
and  of  the  principal  movements  of  the  army,  to  the  time  of  the  founda 
tion  of  the  Villa  Rica.  The  writers  conciliate  our  confidence  by  the 
circumspect  tone  of  their  narration.  "  Querer  dar,"  they  say,  "  d 
Vuestra  Magestad  todas  las  partic.ularidades  de  esta  tierra  y  gente  de 
ella,  podria  ser  que  en  algo  se  errase  la  relacion,  porque  muchas  de 
ellas  no  se  han  visto  mas  de  por  informaciones  de  los  naturales  de 
ella,  y  por  esto  no  nos  entremetemos  a  dar  mas  de  aquello  que  por 
muy  cierto  y  verdadero  Vras.  Reales  Altezas  podran  man  dar  tener." 
The  account  given  of  Velasquez,  however,  must  be  considered  as  an 
ex-parte  testimony,  and,  as  such,  admitted  with  great  reserve.  It  was 
essential  to  their  own  vindication,  to  vindicate  Cortes.  The  letter  has 
never  been  printed.  The  original  exists,  as  above  stated,  in  the  Im 
perial  Library  at  Vienna.  The  copy  in  my  possession,  covering  more 
than  sixty  pages  folio,  is  taken  from  that  of  the  Academy  of  History 
at  Madrid.* 


*  [The  letter  has  since  been  printed,  from  the  original  at  Vienna,  in 
the  Col.  de  Doc.  ined.  para  la  Hist,  de  Espafia,  torn,  i.— ED.] 


DESPATCHES   SENT    TO    SPAIN.  361 

Cortes  intrusted  the  affair  to  two  cavaliers  on  whom 
he  could  rely ;  Francisco  de  Montejo,  the  ancient  par 
tisan  of  Velasquez,  and  Alonso  Hernandez  de  Puerto- 
carrero.  The  latter  officer  was  a  near  kinsman  of  the 
count  of  Medellin,  and  it  was  hoped  his  high  connec 
tions  might  secure  a  favorable  influence  at  court. 

Together  with  the  treasure,  which  seemed  to  verify 
the  assertion  that  "  the  land  teemed  with  gold  as  abun 
dantly  as  that  whence  Solomon  drew  the  same  precious 
metal  for  his  temple,"  I4  several  Indian  manuscripts 
were  sent.  Some  were  of  cotton,  others  of  the  Mexi 
can  agave.  Their  unintelligible  characters,  says  a  chron 
icler,  excited  little  interest  in  the  Conquerors.  As 
evidence  of  intellectual  culture,  however,  they  formed 
higher  objects  of  interest  to  a  philosophic  mind  than 
those  costly  fabrics  which  attested  only  the  mechanical 
ingenuity  of  the  nation.15  Four  Indian  slaves  were 
added  as  specimens  of  the  natives.  They  had  been 
rescued  from  the  cages  in  which  they  were  confined  for 
sacrifice.  One  of  the  best  vessels  of  the  fleet  was 
selected  for  the  voyage,  manned  by  fifteen  seamen, 
and  placed  under  the  direction  of  the  pilot  Alaminos. 
He  was  directed  to  hold  his  course  through  the  Bahama 
channel,  north  of  Cuba,  or  Fernandina,  as  it  was  then 
called,  and  on  no  account  to  touch  at  that  island,  or 
any  other  in  the  Indian  Ocean.  With  these  instruc- 

J4  "  A  nuestra  parecer  se  debe  creer,  que  ai  en  esta  tierra  tanto 
quanto  en  aquella  de  donde  se  dize  aver  llevado  Salomon  el  oro  para 
el  templo."  Carta  de  Vera  Cruz,  MS. 

js  Peter  Martyr,  pre-eminent  above  his  contemporaries  for  the  en 
lightened  views  he  took  of  the  new  discoveries,  devotes  half  a  chapter 
to  the  Indian  manuscripts,  in  which  he  recognized  the  evidence  of  a 
civilization  analogous  to  the  Egyptian.  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  4,  cap.  8. 
VOL.  I. — Q  31 


362  DISCOVERY   OF   MEXICO. 

tions,  the  good  ship  took  its  departure  on  the  26th  of 
July,  freighted  with  the  treasures  and  the  good  wishes 
of  the  community  of  the  Villa  Rica  de  Vera  Cruz. 

After  a  quick  run  the  emissaries  made  the  island 
of  Cuba,  and,  in  direct  disregard  of  orders,  anchored 
before  Marien,  on  the  northern  side  of  the  island. 
This  was  done  to  accommodate  Montejo,  who  wished 
to  visit  a  plantation  owned  by  him  in  the  neighbor 
hood.  While  off  the  port,  a  sailor  got  on  shore,  and, 
crossing  the  island  to  St.  Jago,  the  capital,  spread 
everywhere  tidings  of  the  expedition,  until  they  reached 
the  ears  of  Velasquez.  It  was  the  first  intelligence 
which  had  been  received  of  the  armament  since  its 
departure ;  and,  as  the  governor  listened  to  the  recital, 
it  would  not  be  easy  to  paint  the  mingled  emotions 
of  curiosity,  astonishment,  and  wrath  which  agitated 
his  bosom.  In  the  first  sally  of  passion,  he  poured  a 
storm  of  invective  on  the  heads  of  his  secretary  and 
treasurer,  the  friends  of  Cortes,  who  had  recommended 
him  as  the  leader  of  the  expedition.  After  somewhat 
relieving  himself  in  this  way,  he  despatched  two  fast- 
sailing  vessels  to  Marien  with  orders  to  seize  the  rebel 
ship,  and,  in  case  of  her  departure,  to  follow  and  over 
take  her. 

But  before  the  ships  could  reach  that  port  the  bird 
had  flown,  and  was  far  on  her  way  across  the  broad 
Atlantic.  Stung  with  mortification  at  this  fresh  disap 
pointment,  Velasquez  wrote  letters  of  indignant  com 
plaint  to  the  government  at  home,  and  to  the  Hierony- 
mite  fathers  in  Hispaniola,  demanding  redress.  He 
obtained  little  satisfaction  from  the  latter.  He  resolved, 
however,  to  take  the  matter  into  his  own  hands,  and 


CONSPIRACY  IN    THE    CAMP.  363 

set  about  making  formidable  preparations  for  another 
squadron,  which  should  be  more  than  a  match  for  that 
under  his  rebellious  officer.  He  was  indefatigable  in  his 
exertions,  visiting  every  part  of  the  island,  and  straining 
all  his  resources  to  effect  his  purpose.  The  prepara 
tions  were  on  a  scale  that  necessarily  consumed  many 
months. 

Meanwhile  the  little  vessel  was  speeding  her  pros 
perous  way  across  the  waters,  and,  after  touching  at 
one  of  the  Azores,  came  safely  into  the  harbor  of  St. 
Lucar,  in  the  month  of  October.  However  long  it 
may  appear  in  the  more  perfect  nautical  science  of  our 
day,  it  was  reckoned  a  fair  voyage  for  that.  Of  what 
befell  the  commissioners  on  their  arrival,  their  recep 
tion  at  court,  and  the  sensation  caused  by  their  intelli 
gence,  I  defer  the  account  to  a  future  chapter.16 

Shortly  after  the  departure  of  the  commissioners,  an 
affair  occurred  of  a  most  unpleasant  nature.  A  number 
of  persons,  with  the  priest  Juan  Diaz  at  their  head, 
ill-affected,  from  some  cause  or  other,  towards  the  ad 
ministration  of  Cortes,  or  not  relishing  the  hazardous 
expedition  before  them,  laid  a  plan  to  seize  one  of 
the  vessels,  make  the  best  of  their  way  to  Cuba,  and 
report  to  the  governor  the  fate  of  the  armament.  It 
was  conducted  with  so  much  secrecy  that  the  party  had 
got  their  provisions,  water,  and  everything  necessary 
for  the  voyage,  on  board,  without  detection ;  when  the 

16  Rernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  54-57. — Gomara,  Cro- 
nica,  cap.  40. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  5,  cap.  14. — Carta 
de  Vera  Crux,  MS. — Martyr's  copious  information  was  chiefly  derived 
from  his  conversations  with  Alaminos  and  the  two  envoys,  on  their 
arrival  at  court.  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  4,  cap.  6,  et  alibi;  also  Idem, 
Opus  Epistolarum  (Amstelodami,  1670),  ep.  650. 


364  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

conspiracy  was  betrayed,  on  the  very  night  they  were 
to  sail,  by  one  of  their  own  number,  who  repented  the 
part  he  had  taken  in  it.  The  general  caused  the  per 
sons  implicated  to  be  instantly  apprehended.  An  ex 
amination  was  instituted.  The  guilt  of  the  parties  was 
placed  beyond  a  doubt.  Sentence  of  death  was  passed 
on  two  of  the  ringleaders ;  another,  the  pilot,  was 
condemned  to  lose  his  feet,  and  several  others  to  be 
whipped.  The  priest,  probably  the  most  guilty  of  the 
whole,  claiming  the  usual  benefit  of  clergy,  was  per 
mitted  to  escape.  One  of  those  condemned  to  the 
gallows  was  named  Escudero,  the  very  alguacil  who, 
the  reader  may  remember,  so  stealthily  apprehended 
Cortes  before  the  sanctuary  in  Cuba.17  The  general, 
on  signing  the  death-warrants,  was  heard  to  exclaim, 
' '  Would  that  I  had  never  learned  to  write  ! "  It  was 
not  the  first  time,  it  was  remarked,  that  the  exclamation 
had  been  uttered  in  similar  circumstances.18 

The  arrangements  being  now  finally  settled  at  the 
Villa  Rica,  Cortes  sent  forward  Alvarado,  with  a  large 
part  of  the  army,  to  Cempoalla,  where  he  soon  after 
joined  them  with  the  remainder.  The-  late  affair  of 
the  conspiracy  seems  to  have  made  a  deep  impression 
on  his  mind.  It  showed  him  that  there  were  timid 
spirits  in  the  camp  on  whom  he  could  not  rely,  and 

17  See  ante,  p.  239. 

18  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  57. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de 
las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  2. — Las  Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias   MS,, 
lib.  3,  cap.  122. — Demanda  de  Narvaez,  MS. — Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes, 
ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  41. — It  was  the  exclamation  of  Nero,  as  reported 
by  Suetonius.     "  Et  cum  de  supplicio  cujusdam  capita  damnati  ut  ex 
more  subscriberet,  admoneretur,   '  Quam  vellem,'   inquit,   '  nescire 
literas  !'  "     Lib.  6,  cap.  10. 


CONSPIRACY  IN    THE    CAMP.  365 

who,  he  feared,  might  spread  the  seeds  of  disaffection 
among  their  companions.  Even  the  more  resolute,  on 
any  occasion  of  disgust  or  disappointment  hereafter, 
might  falter  in  purpose,  and,  getting  possession  of  the 
vessels,  abandon  the  enterprise.  This  was  already  too 
vast,  and  the  odds  were  too  formidable,  to  authorize 
expectation  of  success  with  diminution  of  numbers. 
Experience  showed  that  this  was  always  to  be  appre 
hended  while  means  of  escape  were  at  hand.19  The 
best  chance  for  success  was  to  cut  off  these  means. 
He  came  to  the  daring  resolution  to  destroy  the  fleet, 
without  the  knowledge  of  his  army. 

When  arrived  at  Cempoalla,  he  communicated  his 
design  to  a  few  of  his  devoted  adherents,  who  entered 
warmly  into  his  views.  Through  them  he  readily  per 
suaded  the  pilots,  by  means  of  those  golden  arguments 
which  weigh  more  than  any  other  with  ordinary  minds, 
to  make  such  a  report  of  the  condition  of  the  fleet  as 
suited  his  purpose.  The  ships,  they  said,  were  griev 
ously  racked  by  the  heavy  gales  they  had  encountered, 
and,  what  was  worse,  the  worms  had  eaten  into  their 
sides  and  bottoms  until  most  of  them  were  not  sea 
worthy,  and  some,  indeed,  could  scarcely  now  be  kept 
afloat. 

Cortes  received  the  communication  with  surprise ; 
"for  he  could  well  dissemble,"  observes  Las  Casas, 

»9  "  Y  porque,"  says  Cortes,  "  demas  de  los  que  por  ser  criados  y 
amigos  de  Diego  Velasquez  tenian  voluntad  de  salir  de  la  Tierra,  habia 
otros,  que  por  verla  tan  grande,  y  de  tanta  gente,  y  tal,  y  ver  los  pocos 
Espanoles  que  eramos,  estaban  del  misrno  proposito ;  creyendo,  que 
si  alii  los  navios  dejasse,  se  me  alzarian  con  ellos,  y  yendose  todos 
los  que  de  esta  voluntad  estavan,  yo  quedaria  casi  solo." 
3'* 


366  DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 

with  his  usual  friendly  comment,  "when  it  suited  his 
interests."  "If  it  be  so,"  he  exclaimed,  "we  must 
make  the  best  of  it !  Heaven's  will  be  done  !"  *°  He 
then  ordered  five  of  the  worst  conditioned  to  be  dis 
mantled,  their  cordage,  sails,  iron,  and  whatever  was 
movable,  to  be  brought  on  shore,  and  the  ships  to  be 
sunk.  A  survey  was  made  of  the  others,  and,  on  a 
similar  report,  four  more  were  condemned  in  the  same 
manner.  Only  one  small  vessel  remained  ! 

When  the  intelligence  reached  the  troops  in  Cem- 
poalla,  it  caused  the  deepest  consternation.  They  saw 
themselves  cut  off  by  a  single  blow  from  friends,  family, 
country  !  The  stoutest  hearts  quailed  before  the  pros 
pect  of  being  thus  abandoned  on  a  hostile  shore,  a 
handful  of  men  arrayed  against  a  formidable  empire. 
When  the  news  arrived  of  the  destruction  of  the  five 
vessels  first  condemned,  they  had  acquiesced  in  it  as  a 
necessary  measure,  knowing  the  mischievous  activity 
of  the  insects  in  these  tropical  seas.  But,  when  this 
was  followed  by  the  loss  of  the  remaining  four,  sus 
picions  of  the  truth  flashed  on  their  minds.  They  felt 
they  were  betrayed.  Murmurs,  at  first  deep,  swelled 
louder  and  louder,  menacing  open  mutiny.  "Their 
general,"  they  said,  "had  led  them  like  cattle  to  be 
butchered  in  the  shambles  !"  2I  The  affair  wore  a  most 


20  "  Mostro  quando  se  lo  dixeron  mucho  sentimiento  Cortes,  porque 
saviabien  ha9er  fingimientos  quando  le  era  provechoso,  y  rrespondio- 
les  que  mirasen  vien  en  ello,  e  que  si  no  estavan  para  navegar  que 
diesen  gracias  a  Dios  por  ello,  pues  no  se  podia  hacer  mas."      Las 
Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  122. 

21  "  Decian,  que  los  queria  meter  en  el  matadero."     Gomara,  Cro- 
nica,  cap.  42. 


THE    FLEET  SUNK.  367 

alarming  aspect.     In  no  situation  was  Cortes  ever  ex 
posed  to  greater  danger  from  his  soldiers.22 

His  presence  of  mind  did  not  desert  him  at  this 
crisis.  He  called  his  men  together,  and,  employing 
the  tones  of  persuasion  rather  than  authority,  assured 
them  that  a  survey  of  the  ships  showed  they  were  not 
fit  for  service.  If  he  had  ordered  them  to  be  destroyed, 
they  should  consider,  also,  that  his  was  the  greatest 
sacrifice,  for  they  were  his  property, — all,  indeed,  he 
possessed  in  the  world.  The  troops,  on  the  other 
hand,  would  derive  one  great  advantage  from  it,  by  the 
addition  of  a  hundred  able-bodied  recruits,  before  re 
quired  to  man  the  vessels.  But,  even  if  the  fleet  had 
been  saved,  it  could  have  been  of  little  service  in  their 
present  expedition ;  since  they  would  not  need  it  if 
they  succeeded,  while  they  would  be  too  far  in  the  in 
terior  to  profit  by  it  if  they  failed.  He  besought  them 
to  turn  their  thoughts  in  another  direction.  To  be 
thus  calculating  chances  and  means  of  escape  was  un 
worthy  of  brave  souls.  They  had  set  their  hands  to 
the  work ;  to  look  back,  as  they  advanced,  would  be 
their  ruin.  They  had  only  to  resume  their  former  con 
fidence  in  themselves  and  their  general,  and  success 
was  certain.  "As  for  me,"  he  concluded,  "I  have 
chosen  my  part.  I  will  remain  here,  while  there  is 
one  to  bear  me  company.  If  there  be  any  so  craven 
as  to  shrink  from  sharing  the  dangers  of  our  glo 
rious  enterprise,  let  them  go  home,  in  God's  name. 

22  "  Al  cavo  lo  ovieron  de  sentir  la  gente  y  ayna  se  le  amotinaran 
muchos,  y  esta  fue  uno  de  los  peligros  que  pasaron  por  Cortes  de 
muchos  que  para  matallo  de  los  mismos  Espanoles  estuvo."  Las 
Casas,  Hist,  de  las  Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  122. 


368  DISCOVERY    OF  MEXICO. 

There  is  still  one  vessel  left.  Let  them  take  that 
and  return  to  Cuba.  They  can  tell  there  how  they 
deserted  their  commander  and  their  comrades,  and 
patiently  wait  till  we  return  loaded  with  the  spoils  of 
the  Aztecs. ' ' 23 

The  politic  orator  had  touched  the  right  chord  in 
the  bosoms  of  the  soldiers.  As  he  spoke,  their  resent 
ment  gradually  died  away.  The  faded  visions  of  future 
riches  and  glory,  rekindled  by  his  eloquence,  again 
floated  before  their  imaginations.  The  first  shock 
over,  they  felt  ashamed  of  their  temporary  distrust. 
The  enthusiasm  for  their  leader  revived,  for  they  felt 
that  under  his  banner  only  they  could  hope  for  victory  ; 
and,  as  he  concluded,  they  testified  the  revulsion  of 
their  feelings  by  making  the  air  ring  with  their  shouts, 
"  To  Mexico  !  to  Mexico  !" 

The  destruction  of  his  fleet  by  Cortes  is,  perhaps,  the 
most  remarkable'  passage  in  the  life  of  this  remarkable 
man.  History,  indeed,  affords  examples  of  a  similar 
expedient  in  emergencies  somewhat  similar ;  but  none 
where  the  chances  of  success  were  so  precarious  and 
defeat  would  be  so  disastrous.24  Had  'he  failed,  it 

23  "  Que  ninguno  seria  tan  cobarde  y  tan   pusilanime  que  queria 
estimar  su  vida  mas  que  la  suya,  ni  de  tan  debil  corazon  que  dudase 
de  ir  con  el  a  Mexico,  donde  tanto  bien  le  estaba  aparejado,  y  que  si 
acaso  se  determinaba  alguno  de  dejar  de  hacer  este  se  podia  ir  bendito 
de  Dios  a  Cuba  en  el  navio  que  habia  dexado,  de  que  antes  de  mucho 
se  arrepentiria,  y  pelaria  las  barbas,  viendo  la  buena  ventura  que 
esperaba  le  sucederia."     Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  82. 

24  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  these  examples  is  that  of  Julian, 
who,  in  his  unfortunate  Assyrian  invasion,  burnt  the  fleet  which  had 
carried  him  up  the  Tigris.     The  story  is  told  by  Gibbon,  who  shows 
very  satisfactorily  that  the  fleet  would  have  proved  a  hinderance  rather 


THE    FLEET  SUNK,  369 

might  well  seem  an  act  of  madness.  Yet  it  was  the 
fruit  of  deliberate  calculation.  He  had  set  fortune, 
fame,  life  itself,  all  upon  the  cast,  and  must  abide  the 
issue.  There  was  no  alternative  in  his  mind  but  to 
succeed  or  perish.  The  measure  he  adopted  greatly 
increased  the  chance  of  success.  But  to  carry  it  into 
execution,  in  the  face  of  an  incensed  and  desperate 
soldiery,  was  an  act  of  resolution  that  has  few  parallels 
in  history.25 

than  a  help  to  the  emperor  in  his  further  progress.  See  History  of  the 
Decline  and  Fall,  vol.  ix.  p.  177,  of  Milman's  excellent  edition. 

25  The  account  given  in  the  text  of  the  destruction  of  the  fleet  is  not 
that  of  Bernal  Diaz,  who  states  it  to  have  been  accomplished  not  only 
with  the  knowledge,  but  entire  approbation  of  the  army,  though  at 
the  suggestion  of  Cortes.  (Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  58.)  This 
version  is  sanctioned  by  Dr.  Robertson  (History  of  America,  vol.  ii. 
pp.  253,  254.)  One  should  be  very  slow  to  depart  from  the  honest 
record  of  the  old  soldier,  especially  when  confirmed  by  the  discrimi 
nating  judgment  of  the  Historian  of  America.  But  Cortes  expressly 
declares  in  his  letter  to  the  emperor  that  he  ordered  the  vessels  to  be 
sunk,  without  the  knowledge  of  his  men,  from  the  apprehension  that, 
if  the  means  of  escape  were  open,  the  timid  and  disaffected  might  at 
some  future  time  avail  themselves  of  them.  (Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap. 
Lorenzana,  p.  41.)  The  cavaliers  Montejo  and  Puertocarrero,  on  their 
visit  to  Spain,  stated,  in  their  depositions,  that  the  general  destroyed 
the  fleet  on  information  received  from  the  pilots.  (Declaraciones, 
MSS.)  Narvaez  in  his  accusation  of  Cortes,  and  Las  Casas,  speak 
of  the  act  in  terms  of  unqualified  reprobation,  charging  him,  moreover, 
with  bribing  the  pilots  to  bore  holes  in  the  bottoms  of  the  ships  in 
order  to  disable  them.  (Demanda  de  Narvaez,  MS. — Hist,  de  las 
Indias,  MS.,  lib.  3,  cap.  122.)  The  same  account  of  the  transaction, 
though  with  a  very  different  commentary  as  to  its  merits,  is  repeated 
by  Oviedo  (Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  2),  Gomara  (Cronica, 
cap.  42),  and  Peter  Martyr  (De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap.  i),  all  of 
whom  had  access  to  the  best  sources  of  information.  The  affair,  so 
remarkable  as  the  act  of  one  individual,  becomes  absolutely  incredi 
ble  when  considered  as  the  result  of  so  many  independent  wills.  It 
Q* 


37° 


DISCOVERY   OF  MEXICO. 


is  not  improbable  that  Bernal  Diaz,  from  his  known  devotion  to  the 
cause,  may  have  been  one  of  the  few  to  whom  Cortes  confided  his 
purpose.  The  veteran,  in  writing  his  narrative,  many  years  after,  may 
have  mistaken  a  part  for  the  whole,  and  in  his  zeal  to  secure  to  the 
army  a  full  share  of  the  glory  of  the  expedition,  too  exclusively  appro 
priated  by  the  general  (a  great  object,  as  he  tells  us,  of  his  history), 
may  have  distributed  among  his  comrades  the  credit  of  an  exploit 
which,  in  this  instance,  at  least,  properly  belonged  to  their  commander. 
Whatever  be  the  cause  of  the  discrepancy,  his  solitary  testimony  can 
hardly  be  sustained  against  the  weight  of  contemporary  evidence  from 
such  competent  sources.* 


*  [Prescott's  account  of  the  circumstances  attending  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  fleet  has  been  contested  at  great  length  by  Sefior  Ramirez, 
who  insists  on  accepting  the  statements  of  Bernal  Diaz  without  quali 
fication  and  ascribing  to  the  army  an  equal  share  with  the  general 
in  the  merit  of  the  act.  He  remarks  with  truth  that  the  language  of 
Cortes — "  Tuve  manera,  como  so  color  que  los  dichos  navios  no  esta- 
ban  para  navegar,  los  eche  a  la  costa" — contains  no  express  declara 
tion,  as  stated  by  Prescott,  that  the  order  for  the  fleet  to  be  sunk  was 
given  without  the  knowledge  of  the  army,  but  would,  at  the  most,  lead 
to  an  inference  to  that  effect.  "  Nor  can  even  this,"  he  adds,  "be 
admitted,  since,  in  order  to  persuade  the  soldiers  that  the  ships  were 
unfit  for  sailing,  he  must  have  had  an  understanding  with  the  mariners 
who  were  to  make  the  statement,  and  with  his  friends  who  were  to 
confirm  it."  This  is,  however,  very  inefficient  reasoning.  It  is  not 
pretended  that  Cortes  had  no  confidants  and  agents  in  the  transaction. 
The  question  of  real  importance  is,  Was  the  resolution  taken,  as  Bernal 
Diaz  asserts,  openly  and  by  the  advice  of  the  whole  army, — "  clara- 
mente,  por  consejo  de  todos  los  demas  soldados' '  ?— or  was  it  formed  by 
Cortes,  and  were  measures  taken  for  giving  effect  to  it,  without  any 
communication  with  the  mass  of  his  followers  ?  The  newly  discovered 
relation  of  Tapia  is  cited  by  Senor  Ramirez  as  "  in  perfect  accordance 
with  the  testimony  of  Diaz  and  destructive  of  every  supposition  of 
mystery  and  secrecy."  Yet  Tapia  says,  with  Herrera,  that  Cortes 
caused  holes  to  be  bored  in  the  ships  and  their  unserviceable  con 
dition  to  be  reported  to  him,  and  thereupon  gave  orders  for  their 
destruction ;  no  mention  being  made  of  the  concurrence  of  the 
soldiers  at  any  stage  of  the  proceedings. — ED.] 


LAS   CASAS. 


371 


Fray  Bartolome*  de  las  Casas,  Bishop  of  Chiapa,  whose  "  History  of 
the  Indies"  forms  an  important  authority  for  the  preceding  pages,  was 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  the  sixteenth  century.  He  was 
born  at  Seville  in  1474.  His  father  accompanied  Columbus,  as  a 
common  soldier,  in  his  first  voyage  to  the  New  World ;  and  he 
acquired  wealth  enough  by  his  vocation  to  place  his  son  at  the  Uni 
versity  of  Salamanca.  During  his  residence  there,  he  was  attended 
bv  an  Indian  page,  whom  his  father  had  brought  with  him  from  His- 
paniola.  Thus  the  uncompromising  advocate  for  freedom  began  his 
career  as  the  owner  of  a  slave  himself.  But  he  did  not  long  remain 
so,  for  his  slave  was  one  of  those  subsequently  liberated  by  the  gen 
erous  commands  of  Isabella. 

In  1498  he  completed  his  studies  in  law  and  divinity,  took  his 
degree  of  licentiate,  and  in  1502  accompanied  Oviedo,  in  the  most 
brilliant  armada  which  had  been  equipped  for  the  Western  World. 
Eight  years  after,  he  was  admitted  to  priest's  orders  in  St.  Domingo, 
an  event  somewhat  memorable,  since  he  was  the  first  person  conse 
crated  in  that  holy  office  in  the  colonies.  On  the  occupation  of  Cuba 
by  the  Spaniards,  Las  Casas  passed  over  to  that  island,  where  he  ob 
tained  a  curacy  in  a  small  settlement.  He  soon,  however,  made  him 
self  known  to  the  governor,  Velasquez,  by  the  fidelity  with  which  he 
discharged  his  duties,  and  especially  by  the  influence  which  his  mild 
and  benevolent  teaching  obtained  for  him  over  the  Indians.  Through 
his  intimacy  with  the  governor,  Las  Casas  had  the  means  of  amelior 
ating  the  condition  of  the  conquered  race,  and  from  this  time  he  may 
be  sa.id  to  have  consecrated  all  his  energies  to  this  one  great  object. 
At  this  period,  the  scheme  of  repartimlentos,  introduced  soon  after  the 
discoveries  of  Columbus,  was  in  full  operation,  and  the  aboriginal 
population  of  the  islands  was  rapidly  melting  away  under  a  system  of 
oppression  which  has  been  seldom  paralleled  in  the  annals  of  man 
kind.  Las  Casas,  outraged  at  the  daily  exhibition  of  crime  and  misery, 
returned  to  Spain  to  obtain  some  redress  from  government.  Ferdi 
nand  died  soon  after  his  arrival.  Charles  was  absent,  but  the  reins 
were  held  by  Cardinal  Ximenes,  who  listened  to  the  complaints  of  the 
benevolent  missionary,  and,  with  his  characteristic  vigor,  instituted  a 
commission  of  three  Hieronymite  friars,  with  full  authority,  as  already 
noticed  in  the  text,  to  reform  abuses.  Las  Casas  was  honored,  for  his 
exertions,  with  the  title  of  "  Protector-General  of  the  Indians." 

The  new  commissioners  behaved  with  great  discretion.  But  their 
office  was  one  of  consummate  difficulty,  as  it  required  time  to  intro- 


372  LAS   CAS  AS. 

duce  important  changes  in  established  institutions.  The  ardent  and 
impetuous  temper  of  Las  Casas,  disdaining  every  consideration  of 
prudence,  overleaped  all  these  obstacles,  and  chafed  under  what  he 
considered  the  lukewarm  and  temporizing  policy  of  the  commissioners. 
As  he  was  at  no  pains  to  conceal  his  disgust,  the  parties  soon  came  to 
a  misunderstanding  with  each  other ;  and  Las  Casas  again  returned 
to  the  mother-country,  to  stimulate  the  government,  if  possible,  to 
more  effectual  measures  for  the  protection  of  the  natives. 

He  found  the  country  under  the  administration  of  the  Flemings, 
who  discovered  from  the  first  a  wholesome  abhorrence  of  the  abuses 
practised  in  the  colonies,  and  who,  in  short,  seemed  inclined  to  tol 
erate  no  peculation  or  extortion  but  their  own.  They  acquiesced, 
without  much  difficulty,  in  the  recommendations  of  Las  Casas,  who 
proposed  to  relieve  the  natives  by  sending  out  Castilian  laborers  and 
by  importing  negro  slaves  into  the  islands.  This  last  proposition  has 
brought  heavy  obloquy  on  the  head  of  its  author,  who  has  been  freely 
accused  of  having  thus  introduced  negro  slavery  into  the  New  World. 
Others,  with  equal  groundlessness,  have  attempted  to  vindicate  his 
memory  from  the  reproach  of  having  recommended  the  measure  at 
all.  Unfortunately  for  the  latter  assertion,  Las  Casas,  in  his  History 
of  the  Indies,  confesses,  with  deep  regret  and  humiliation,  his  advice 
on  this  occasion,  founded  on  the  most  erroneous  views,  as  he  frankly 
states ;  since,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  the  same  law  applies  equally  to 
the  negro  as  to  the  Indian."  But,  so  far  from  having  introduced  slavery 
by  this  measure  into  the  islands,  the  importation  of  blacks  there  dates 
from  the  beginning  of  the  century.  It  was  recommended  by  some  of 
the  wisest  and  most  benevolent  persons  in  the  colony, -as  the  means  of 
diminishing  the  amount  of  human  suffering;  since  the  African  was 
more  fitted  by  his  constitution  to  endure  the  climate  and  the  severe 
toil  imposed  on  the  slave,  than  the  feeble  and  effeminate  islander.  It 
was  a  suggestion  of  humanity,  however  mistaken,  and,  considering  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  occurred,  and  the  age,  it  may  well  be 
forgiven  in  Las  Casas,  especially  taking  into  view  that,  as  he  became 
more  enlightened  himself,  he  was  so  ready  to  testify  his  regret  at 
having  unadvisedly  countenanced  the  measure. 

The  experiment  recommended  by  Las  Casas  was  made,  but,  through 
the  apathy  of  Fonseca,  president  of  the  Indian  Council,  not  heartily, — • 
and  it  failed.  The  good  missionary  now  proposed  another  and  much 
bolder  scheme.  He  requested  that  a  large  tract  of  country  in  Tierra 
Firme,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  famous  pearl-fisheries,  might  be 


LAS  CASAS. 


373 


ceded  to  him  for  the  purpose  of  planting  a  colony  there,  and  of  con 
verting  the  natives  to  Christianity.  He  required  that  none  of  the 
authorities  of  the  islands,  and  no  military  force,  especially,  should  be 
allowed  to  interfere  with  his  movements.  He  pledged  himself  by 
peaceful  means  alone  to  accomplish  all  that  had  been  done  by  vio 
lence  in  other  quarters.  He  asked  only  that  a  certain  number  of 
laborers  should  attend  him,  invited  by  a  bounty  from  government,  and 
that  he  might  further  be  accompanied  by  fifty  Dominicans,  who  were 
to  be  distinguished  like  himself  by  a  peculiar  dress,  that  should  lead 
the  natives  to  suppose  them  a  different  race  of  men  from  the  Span 
iards.  This  proposition  was  denounced  as  chimerical  and  fantastic  by 
some,  whose  own  opportunities  of  observation  entitled  their  judgment 
to  respect.  These  men  declared  the  Indian,  from  his  nature,  incapa 
ble  of  civilization.  The  question  was  one  of  such  moment  that  Charles 
the  Fifth  ordered  the  discussion  to  be  conducted  before  him.  The 
opponent  of  Las  Casas  was  first  heard,  when  the  good  missionary,  in 
answer,  warmed  by  the  noble  cause  he  was  to  maintain,  and  nothing 
daunted  by  the  august  presence  in  which  he  stood,  delivered  himself 
with  a  fervent  eloquence  that  went  directly  to  the  hearts  of  his  audi 
tors.  "  The  Christian  religion,"  he  concluded,  "  is  equal  in  its  opera 
tion,  and  is  accommodated  to  every  nation  on  the  globe.  It  robs  no 
one  of  his  freedom,  violates  none  of  his  inherent  rights,  on  the  ground 
that  he  is  a  slave  by  nature,  as  pretended  ;  and  it  well  becomes  your 
Majesty  to  banish  so  monstrous  an  oppression  from  your  kingdom  in 
the  beginning  of  your  reign,  that  the  Almighty  may  make  it  long  and 
glorious." 

In  the  end  Las  Casas  prevailed.  He  was  furnished  with  the  men 
and  means  for  establishing  his  colony,  and  in  1520  embarked  for 
America.  But  the  result  was  a  lamentable  failure.  The  country  as 
signed  to  him  lay  in  the  neighborhood  of  a  Spanish  settlement,  which 
had  already  committed  some  acts  of  violence  on  the  natives.  To  quell 
the  latter,  now  thrown  into  commotion,  an  armed  force  was  sent  by 
the  young  "Admiral"  from  Hispaniola.  The  very  people,  among 
whom  Las  Casas  was  to  appear  as  the  messenger  of  peace,  were  thus 
involved  in  deadly  strife  with  his  countrymen.  The  enemy  had  been 
before  him  in  his  own  harvest.  While  waiting  for  the  close  of  these 
turbulent  scenes,  the  laborers,  whom  he  had  taken  out  with  him,  dis 
persed,  in  despair  of  effecting  their  object.  And  after  an  attempt  to 
pursue,  with  his  faithful  Dominican  brethren,  the  work  of  colonization 
further,  other  untoward  circumstances  compelled  them  to  abandon  the 
VOL.  I.  32 


374 


LAS  CASAS. 


project  altogether.  Its  unfortunate  author,  overwhelmed  with  chagrin, 
took  refuge  in  the  Dominican  monastery  in  the  island  of  Hispaniola. 
The  failure  of  the  enterprise  should,  no  doubt,  be  partly  ascribed  to 
circumstances  beyond  the  control  of  its  projector.  Yet  it  is  impos 
sible  not  to  recognize  in  the  whole  scheme,  and  in  the  conduct  of  it, 
the  hand  of  one  much  more  familiar  with  books  than  men,  who,  in  the 
seclusion  of  the  cloister,  had  meditated  and  matured  his  benevolent 
plans,  without  fully  estimating  the  obstacles  that  lay  in  their  way,  and 
who  counted  too  confidently  on  meeting  the  same  generous  enthu 
siasm  in  others  which  glowed  in  his  own  bosom. 

He  found,  in  his  disgrace,  the  greatest  consolation  and  sympathy 
from  the  brethren  of  St.  Dominic,  who  stood  forth  as  the  avowed 
champions  of  the  Indians  on  all  occasions,  and  showed  themselves  as 
devoted  to  the  cause  of  freedom  in  the  New  World  as  they  had  been 
hostile  to  it  in  the  Old.  Las  Casas  soon  became  a  member  of  their 
order,  and,  in  his  monastic  retirement,  applied  himself  for  many  years 
to  the  performance  of  his  spiritual  duties,  and  the  composition  of 
various  works,  all  directed,  more  or  less,  to  vindicate  the  rights  of  the 
Indians.  Here,  too,  he  commenced  his  great  work  the  "  Historia 
general  de  las  Indias,"  which  he  pursued,  at  intervals  of  leisure,  from 
1527  till  a  few  years  before  his  death.  His  time,  however,  was  not 
wholly  absorbed  by  these  labors  ;  and  he  found  means  to  engage  in 
several  laborious  missions.  He  preached  the  gospel  among  the  natives 
of  Nicaragua  and  Guatemala,  and  succeeded  in  converting  and  re 
ducing  to  obedience  some  wild  tribes  in  the  latter  province,  who  had 
defied  the  arms  of  his  countrymen.  In  all  these  pious  labors  he  was 
sustained  by  his  Dominican  brethren.  At  length,  in  1539,  he  crossed 
the  waters  again,  to  seek  further  assistance  and  recruits  among  the 
members  of  his  order. 

A  great  change  had  taken  place  in  the  board  that  now  presided  over 
the  colonial  department.  The  cold  and  narrow-minded  Fonseca,  who, 
during  his  long  administration,  had,  it  may  be  truly  said,  shown  him 
self  the  enemy  of  every  great  name  and  good  measure  connected 
with  the  Indians,  had  died.  His  place,  as  president  of  the  Indian 
Council,  was  filled  by  Loaysa,  Charles's  confessor.  This  functionary, 
general  of  the  Dominicans,  gave  ready  audience  to  Las  Casas,  and 
showed  a  good  will  to  his  proposed  plans  of  reform.  Charles,  too, 
now  grown  older,  seemed  to  feel  more  deeply  the  responsibility  of  his 
station,  and  the  necessity  of  redressing  the  wrongs,  too  long  tolerated, 
of  his  American  subjects.  The  state  of  the  colonies  became  a  common 


LAS  CASAS. 


375 


topic  of  discussion,  not  only  in  the  council,  but  in  the  court;  and  the 
representations  of  Las  Casas  made  an  impression  that  manifested 
itself  in  the  change  of  sentiment  more  clearly  every  day.  He  promoted 
tliis  by  the  publication  of  some  of  his  writings  at  this  time,  and  espe 
cially  of  his  "  Brevisima  Relacion,"  or  Short  Account  of  the  Destruc 
tion  of  the  Indies,  in  which  he  sets  before  the  reader  the  manifold 
atrocities  committed  by  his  countrymen  in  different  parts  of  the  New 
World  in  the  prosecution  of  their  conquests.  It  is  a  tale  of  woe. 
Every  line  of  the  work  maybe  said  to  be  written  in  blood.  However 
good  the  motives  of  its  author,  we  may  regret  that  the  book  was  ever 
written.  He  would  have  been  certainly  right  not  to  spare  his  country 
men  ;  to  exhibit  their  misdeeds  in  their  true  colors,  and  by  this  appall 
ing  picture — for  such  it  would  have  been — to  have  recalled  the  nation, 
and  those  who  governed  it,  to  a  proper  sense  of  the  iniquitous  career 
it  was  pursuing  on  the  other  side  of  the  water.  But,  to  produce  a 
more  striking  effect,  he  has  lent  a  willing  ear  to  every  tale  of  violence 
and  rapine,  and  magnified  the  amount  to  a  degree  which  borders  on 
the  ridiculous.  The  wild  extravagance  of  his  numerical  estimates  is 
of  itself  sufficient  to  shake  confidence  in  the  accuracy  of  his  statements 
generally.  Yet  the  naked  truth  was  too  startling  in  itself  to  demand 
the  aid  of  exaggeration.  The  book  found  great  favor  with  foreigners  ; 
was  rapidly  translated  into  various  languages,  and  ornamented  with 
characteristic  designs,  which  seemed  to  put  into  action  all  the  recorded 
atrocities  of  the  text.  It  excited  somewhat  different  feelings  in  his 
own  countrymen,  particularly  the  people  of  the  colonies,  who  con 
sidered  themselves  the  subjects  of  a  gross,  however  undesigned,  mis 
representation  ;  and  in  his  future  intercourse  with  them  it  contributed, 
no  doubt,  to  diminish  his  influence  and  consequent  usefulness,  by  the 
spirit  of  alienation,  and  even  resentment,  which  it  engendered. 

Las  Casas'  honest  intentions,  his  enlightened  views  and  long  expe 
rience,  gained  him  deserved  credit  at  home.  This  was  visible  in  the 
important  regulations  made  at  this  time  for  the  better  government  of 
the  colonies,  and  particularly  in  respect  to  the  aborigines.  A  code  of 
laws,  Las  Art/evas  Leyes,  was  passed,  having  for  their  avowed  object 
the  enfranchisement  of  this  unfortunate  race  ;  and  in  the  wisdom  and 
humanity  of  its  provisions  it  is  easy  to  recognize  the  hand  of  the  Pro 
tector  of  the  Indians.  The  history  of  Spanish  colonial  legislation  is 
the  history  of  the  impotent  struggles  of  the  government  in  behalf  of 
the  natives,  against  the  avarice  and  cruelty  of  its  subjects.  It  proves 
that  an  empire  powerful  at  home — and  Spain  then  was  so — may 


376  LAS  CASAS. 

be  so  widely  extended  that  its  authority  shall  scarcely  be  felt  in  its 
extremities. 

The  government  testified  their  sense  of  the  signal  services  of  Las 
Casas  by  promoting  him  to  the  bishopric  of  Cuzco.  one  of  the  richest 
sees  in  the  colonies.  But  the  disinterested  soul  of  the  missionary  did 
not  covet  riches  or  preferment.  He  rejected  the  proffered  dignity 
without  hesitation.  Yet  he  could  not  refuse  the  bishopric  of  Chiapa, 
a  country  which,  from  the  poverty  and  ignorance  of  its  inhabitants, 
offered  a  good  field  for  his  spiritual  labors.  In  1544,  though  at  the 
advanced  age  of  seventy,  he  took  upon  himself  these  new  duties,  and 
embarked,  for  the  fifth  and  last  time,  for  the  shores  of  America.  His 
fame  had  preceded  him.  The  colonists  looked  on  his  coming  with 
apprehension,  regarding  him  as  the  real  author  of  the  new  code,  which 
struck  at  their  ancient  immunities,  and  which  he  would  be  likely  to 
enforce  to  the  letter.  Everywhere  he  was  received  with  coldness. 
In  some  places  his  person  was  menaced  with  violence.  But  the  ven 
erable  presence  of  the  prelate,  his  earnest  expostulations,  which  flowed 
so  obviously  from  conviction,  and  his  generous  self-devotion,  so  re 
gardless  of  personal  considerations,  preserved  him  from  this  outrage. 
Yet  he  showed  no  disposition  to  conciliate  his  opponents  by  what  he 
deemed  an  unworthy  concession ;  and  he  even  stretched  the  arm  of 
authority  so  far  as  to  refuse  the  sacraments  to  any  who  still  held  an 
Indian  in  bondage.  This  high-handed  measure  not  only  outraged 
the  planters,  but  incurred  the  disapprobation  of  his  own  brethren  in 
the  Church.  Three  years  were  spent  in  disagreeable  altercation  with 
out  coming  to  any  decision.  The  Spaniards,  to  borrow  their  accus 
tomed  phraseology  on  these  occasions,  "  obeying  the  law,  but  not 
fulfilling  it,"  applied  to  the  court  for  further  instructions;  and  the 
bishop,  no  longer  supported  by  his  own  brethren,  thwarted  by  the 
colonial  magistrates,  and  outraged  by  the  people,  relinquished  a  post 
where  his  presence  could  be  no  longer  useful,  and  returned  to  spend 
the  remainder  of  his  days  in  tranquillity  at  home. 

Yet,  though  withdrawn  to  his  Dominican  convent,  he  did  not  pass 
his  hours  in  slothful  seclusion.  He  again  appeared  as  the  champion 
of  Indian  freedom  in  the  famous  controversy  with  Sepulveda,  one  of 
the  most  acute  scholars  of  the  time,  and  far  surpassing  Las  Casas  in 
elegance  and  correctness  of  composition.  But  the  Bishop  of  Chiapa 
was  his  superior  in  argument,  at  least  in  this  discussion,  where  he  had 
right  and  reason  on  his  side.  In  his  "  Thirty  Propositions,"  as  they 
are  called,  in  which  he  sums  up  the  several  points  of  his  case,  he  main- 


LAS  CAS  AS.  377 

tains  that  the  circumstance  of  infidelity  in  religion  cannot  deprive  a 
nation  of  its  political  rights  ;  that  the  Holy  See,  in  its  grant  of  the  New 
World  to  the  Catholic  sovereigns,  designed  only  to  confer  the  right 
of  converting  its  inhabitants  to  Christianity,  and  of  thus  winning  a 
peaceful  authority  over  them  ,  and  that  no  authority  could  be  valid 
which  rested  on  other  foundations.  This  was  striking  at  the  root  of 
the  colonial  empire  as  assumed  by  Castile.  But  the  disinterested 
views  of  Las  Casas,  the  respect  entertained  for  his  principles,  and  the 
general  conviction,  it  may  be,  of  the  force  of  his  arguments,  prevented 
the  court  from  taking  umbrage  at  their  import,  or  from  pressing  them 
to  their  legitimate  conclusion.  While  the  writings  of  his  adversary 
were  interdicted  from  publication,  he  had  the  satisfaction  to  see  his 
own  printed  and  circulated  in  every  quarter. 

From  this  period  his  time  was  distributed  among  his  religious  duties, 
his  studies,  and  the  composition  of  his  works,  especially  his  History. 
His  constitution,  naturally  excellent,  had  been  strengthened  by  a  life 
of  temperance  and  toil ;  and  he  retained  his  faculties  unimpaired  to 
the  last.  He  died  after  a  short  illness,  July,  1566,  at  the  great  age 
of  ninety-two,  in  his  monastery  of  Atocha,  at  Madrid. 

The  character  of  Las  Casas  may  be  inferred  from  his  career.  He 
was  one  of  those  to  whose  gifted  minds  are  revealed  those  glorious 
moral  truths  which,  like  the  lights  of  heaven,  are  fixed  and  the  same 
forever,  but  which,  though  now  familiar,  were  hidden  from  all  but  a 
few  penetrating  intellects  by  the  general  darkness  of  the  time  in  which 
he  lived.  He  was  a  reformer,  and  had  the  virtues  and  errors  of  a 
reformer.  He  was  inspired  by  one  great  and  glorious  idea.  This  was 
the  key  to  all  his  thoughts,  to  all  that  he  said  and  wrote,  to  every  act 
of  his  long  life.  It  was  this  which  urged  him  to  lift  the  voice  of  rebuke 
in  the  presence  of  princes,  to  brave  the  menaces  of  an  infuriated 
populace,  to  cross  seas,  to  traverse  mountains  and  deserts,  to  incur 
the  alienation  of  friends,  the  hostility  of  enemies,  to  endure  obloquy, 
insult,  and  persecution.  It  was  this,  too,  which  made  him  reckless 
of  obstacles,  led  him  to  count  too  confidently  on  the  co-operation 
of  others,  animated  his  discussion,  sharpened  his  invective,  too  often 
steeped  his  pen  in  the  gall  of  personal  vituperation,  led  him  into  gross 
exaggeration  and  over-coloring  in  his  statements  and  a  blind  credulity 
of  evil  that  rendered  him  unsafe  as  a  counsellor  and  unsuccessful  in 
the  practical  concerns  of  life.  His  views  were  pure  and  elevated. 
But  his  manner  of  enforcing  them  was  not  always  so  commendable. 
This  may  be  gathered  not  only  from  the  testimony  of  the  colonists 
32* 


378  LAS  CASAS. 

generally,  who,  as  parties  interested,  may  be  supposed  to  have  been 
prejudiced,  but  from  that  of  the  members  of  his  own  profession,  per 
sons  high  in  office,  and  of  integrity  beyond  suspicion,  not  to  add  that 
of  missionaries  engaged  in  the  same  good  work  with  himself.  These, 
in  their  letters  and  reported  conversations,  charged  the  Bishop  of 
Chiapa  with  an  arrogant,  uncharitable  temper,  which  deluded  his 
judgment,  and  vented  itself  in  unwarrantable  crimination  against 
such  as  resisted  his  projects  or  differed  from  him  in  opinion.  Las 
Casas,  in  short,  was  a  man.  But,  if  he  had  the  errors  of  humanity, 
he  had  virtues  that  rarely  belong  to  it.  The  best  commentary  on 
his  character  is  the  estimation  which  he  obtained  in  the  court  of  his 
sovereign.  A  liberal  pension  was  settled  on  him  after  his  last  return 
from  America,  which  he  chiefly  expended  on  charitable  objects.  No 
measure  of  importance  relating  to  the  Indians  was  taken  without 
his  advice.  He  lived  to  see  the  fruits  of  his  efforts  in  the  positive 
amelioration  of  their  condition,  and  in  the  popular  admission  of 
those  great  truths  which  it  had  been  the  object  of  his  life  to  unfold. 
And  who  shall  say  how  much  of  the  successful  efforts  and  arguments 
since  made  in  behalf  of  persecuted  humanity  may  be  traced  to  the 
example  and  the  writings  of  this  illustrious  philanthropist  ? 

His  compositions  were  numerous,  most  of  them  of  no  great  length. 
Some  were  printed  in  his  time  ;  others  have  since  appeared,  especially 
in  the  French  translation  of  Llorente.  His  great  work,  which  occu 
pied  him  at  intervals  for  more  than  thirty  years,  the  Historia general 
dc  las  Indias,  still  remains  in  manuscript.  It  is  in  three  volumes, 
divided  into  as  many  parts,  and  embraces  the  colonial  history  from 
the  discovery  of  the  country  by  Columbus  to  the  year  1520.  The 
style  of  the  work,  like  that  of  all  his  writings,  is  awkward,  disjointed, 
and  excessively  diffuse,  abounding  in  repetitions,  irrelevant  digres 
sions,  and  pedantic  citations.  But  it  is  sprinkled  over  with  passages 
of  a  different  kind ;  and,  when  he  is  roused  by  the  desire  to  exhibit 
some  gross  wrong  to  the  natives,  his  simple  language  kindles  into 
eloquence,  and  he  expounds  those  great  and  immutable  principles  of 
natural  justice  which  in  his  own  day  were  so  little  understood.  His 
defect  as  a  historian  is  that  he  wrote  history,  like  everything  else, 
under  the  influence  of  one  dominant  idea.  He  is  always  pleading 
the  cause  of  the  persecuted  native.  This  gives  a  coloring  to  events 
which  passed  under  his  own  eyes,  and  filled  him  with  a  too  easy  con 
fidence  in  those  which  he  gathered  from  the  reports  of  others.  Much 
of  the  preceding  portion  of  our  narrative  which  relates  to  affairs  in 


LAS  CAS  AS.  379 

Cuba  must  have  come  under  his  personal  observation.  But  he  seems 
incapable  of  shaking  off  his  early  deference  to  Velasquez,  who,  as 
we  have  noticed,  treated  him,  while  a  poor  curate  in  the  island,  with 
peculiar  confidence.  For  Cortes,  on  the  other  hand,  he  appears  to 
have  felt  a  profound  contempt.  He  witnessed  the  commencement 
of  his  career,  when  he  was  standing,  cap  in  hand,  as  it  were,  at  the 
proud  governor's  door,  thankful  even  for  a  smile  of  recognition.  Las 
Casas  remembered  all  this,  and,  when  he  saw  the  Conqueror  of 
Mexico  rise  into  a  glory  and  renown  that  threw  his  former  patron 
into  the  shade, — and  most  unfairly,  as  Las  Casas  deemed,  at  the 
expense  of  that  patron, — the  good  bishop  could  not  withhold  his 
indignation,  nor  speak  of  him  otherwise  than  with  a  sneer,  as  a 
mere  upstart  adventurer. 

It  is  the  existence  of  defects  like  these,  and  the  fear  of  the  mis 
conception  likely  to  be  produced  by  them,  that  have  so  long  prevented 
the  publication  of  his  history.  At  his  death,  he  left  it  to  the  convent 
of  San  Gregorio,  at  Valladolid,  with  directions  that  it  should  not  be 
printed  for  forty  years,  nor  be  seen  during  that  time  by  any  layman  or 
member  of  the  fraternity.  Herrera,  however,  was  permitted  to  consult 
it,  and  he  liberally  transferred  its  contents  to  his  own  volumes,  which 
appeared  in  1601.  The  Royal  Academy  of  History  revised  the  first 
volume  of  Las  Casas  some'years  since,  with  a  view  to  the  publication 
of  the  whole  work.  But  the  indiscreet  and  imaginative  style  of  the 
composition,  according  to  Xavarrete,  and  the  consideration  that  its 
most  important  facts  were  already  known  through  other  channels, 
induced  that  body  to  abandon  the  design.  With  deference  to  their 
judgment,  this  seems  to  me  a  mistake.  Las  Casas,  with  every  de 
duction,  is  one  of  the  great  writers  of  the  nation  ;  great  from  the  im 
portant  truths  which  he  discerned  when  none  else  could  see  them,  and 
from  the  courage  with  which  he  proclaimed  them  to  the  world.  They 
are  scattered  over  his  History  as  well  as  his  other  writings.  They  are 
not,  however,  the  passages  transcribed  by  Herrera.  In  the  statement 
of  fact,  too,  however  partial  and  prejudiced,  no  one  will  impeach  his 
integrity  ;  and,  as  an  enlightened  contemporary,  his  evidence  is  of 
undeniable  value.  It  is  due  to  the  memory  of  Las  Casas  that,  if  his 
work  be  given  to  the  public  at  all,  it  should  not  be  through  the 
garbled  extracts  of  one  who  was  no  fair  interpreter  of  his  opinions. 
Las  Casas  does  not  speak  for  himself  in  the  courtly  pages  of  Herrera. 
Yet  the  History  should  not  be  published  without  a  suitable  com 
mentary  to  enlighten  the  student  and  guard  him  against  any  undue 


3So 


LAS   CASAS. 


prejudices  in  the  writer.  We  may  hope  that  the  entire  manuscript  will 
one  day  be  given  to  the  world  under  the  auspices  of  that  distinguished 
body  which  has  already  done  so  much  in  this  way  for  the  illustration 
of  the  national  annals. 

The  life  of  Las  Casas  has  been  several  times  written.  The  two 
memoirs  most  worthy  of  notice  are  that  by  Llorente,  late  Secretary  of 
the  Inquisition,  prefixed  to  his  French  translation  of  the  bishop's  con 
troversial  writings,  and  that  by  Quintana,  in  the  third  volume  of  his 
"  Espanoles  celebres,"  where  it  presents  a  truly  noble  specimen  oif 
biographical  composition,  enriched  by  a  literary  criticism  as  acute  as 
it  is  candid.  I  have  gone  to  the  greater  length  in  this  notice,  from 
the  interesting  character  of  the  man,  and  the  little  that  is  known  of 
him  to  the  English  reader.  I  have  also  transferred  a  passage  from 
his  work  in  the  original  to  the  Appendix,  that  the  Spanish  scholar 
may  form  an  idea  of  his  style  of  composition.  He  ceases  to  be  an 
authority  for  us  henceforth,  as  his  account  of  the  expedition  of  Cortes 
terminates  with  the  destruction  of  the  navy. 


BOOK   THIRD, 

MARCH   TO   MEXICO. 


BOOK  III. 

MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 


CHAPTER    I. 

PROCEEDINGS  AT  CEMPOALLA.  -  THE  SPANIARDS  CLIMB 
THE  TABLE-LAND.  -  PICTURESQUE  SCENERY.  -  TRANS 
ACTIONS  WITH  THE  NATIVES.  -  EMBASSY  TO  TLASCALA. 


WHILE  at  Cempoalla,  Cortes  received  a  message  from 
Escalante,  his  commander  at  Villa  Rica,  informing  him 
there  were  four  strange  ships  hovering  off  the  coast, 
and  that  they  took  no  notice  of  his  repeated  signals. 
This  intelligence  greatly  alarmed  the  general,  who 
feared  they  might  be  a  squadron  sent  by  the  governor 
of  Cuba  to  interfere  with  his  movements.  In  much 
haste,  he  set  out  at  the  head  of  a  few  horsemen,  and, 
ordering  a  party  of  light  infantry  to  follow,  posted 
back  to  Villa  Rica.  The  rest  of  the  army  he  left 
in  charge  of  Alvarado  and  of  Gonzalo  de  Sandoval, 
a  young  officer  who  had  begun  to  give  evidence  of 
the  uncommon  qualities  which  have  secured  to  him 
so  distinguished  a  rank  among  the  conquerors  of 
Mexico. 

(383) 


384  MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

Escalante  would  have  persuaded  the  general,  on  his 
reaching  the  town,  to  take  some  rest,  and  allow  him  to 
go  in  search  of  the  strangers.  But  Cortes  replied  with 
the  homely  proverb,  "  A  wounded  hare  takes  no  nap,"  * 
and,  without  stopping  to  refresh  himself  or  his  men, 
pushed  on  three  or  four  leagues  to  the  north,  where  he 
understood  the  ships  were  at  anchor.  On  the  way,  he 
fell  in  with  three  Spaniards,  just  landed  from  them. 
To  his  eager  inquiries  whence  they  came,  they  replied 
that  they  belonged  to  a  squadron  fitted  out  by  Fran 
cisco  de  Garay,  governor  of  Jamaica.  This  person, 
the  year  previous,  had  visited  the  Florida  coast,  and 
obtained  from  Spain — where  he  had  some  interest  at 
court — authority  over  the  countries  he  might  discover 
in  that  vicinity.  The  three  men,  consisting  of  a 
notary  and  two  witnesses,  had  been  sent  on  shore  to 
warn  their  countrymen  under  Cortes  to  desist  from 
what  was  considered  an  encroachment  on  the  terri 
tories  of  Garay.  Probably  neither  the  governor  of 
Jamaica  nor  his  officers  had  any  very  precise  notion 
of  the  geography  and  limits  of  these  territories. 

Cortes  saw  at  once  there  was  nothing -to  apprehend 
from  this  quarter.  He  would  have  been  glad,  how 
ever,  if  he  could  by  any  means  have  induced  the 
crews  of  the  ships  to  join  his  expedition.  He  found 
no  difficulty  in  persuading  the  notary  and  his  com 
panions.  But  when  he  came  in  sight  of  the  vessels, 
the  people  on  board,  distrusting  the  good  terms  on 
which  their  comrades  appeared  to  be  with  the  Span 
iards,  refused  to  send  their  boat  ashore.  In  this  di 
lemma,  Cortes  had  recourse  to  a  stratagem. 
1  "  Cabra  coja  no  tenga  siesta." 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   CEMPOALLA.  385 

He  ordered  three  of  his  own  men  to  exchange  dresses 
with  the  new-comers.  He  then  drew  off  his  little  band 
in  sight  of  the  vessels,  affecting  to  return  to  the  city. 
In  the  night,  however,  he  came  back  to  the  same  place, 
and  lay  in  ambush,  directing  the  disguised  Spaniards, 
when  the  morning  broke,  and  they  could  be  discerned, 
to  make  signals  to  those  on  board.  The  artifice  suc 
ceeded.  A  boat  put  off,  filled  with  armed  men,  and 
three  or  four  leaped  on  shore.  But  they  soon  detected 
the  deceit,  and  Cortes,  springing  from  his  ambush, 
made  them  prisoners.  Their  comrades  in  the  boat, 
alarmed,  pushed  off,  at  once,  for  the  vessels,  which 
soon  got  under  way,  leaving  those  on  shore  to  their 
fate.  Thus  ended  the  affair.  Cortes  returned  to  Cem- 
poalla,  with  the  addition  of  half  a  dozen  able-bodied 
recruits,  and,  what  was  of  more  importance,  relieved 
in  his  own  mind  from  the  apprehension  of  interference 
with  his  operations.2 

He  now  made  arrangements  for  his  speedy  departure 
from  the  Totonac  capital.  The  forces  reserved  for  the 
expedition  amounted  to  about  four  hundred  foot  and 
fifteen  horse,  with  seven  pieces  of  artillery.  He  ob 
tained,  also,  from  the  cacique  of  Cempoalla,  thirteen 
hundred  warriors,  and  a  thousand  taniancs,  or  porters,  to 
drag  the  guns  and  transport  the  baggage.  He  took  forty 
more  of  their  principal  men  as  hostages,  as  well  as  to 
guide  him  on  the  way  and  serve  him  by  their  counsels 
among  the  strange  tribes  he  was  to  visit.  They  were, 

2  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  i.— Rel.  Seg.  de 
Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  pp.  42-45. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Con- 
quista,  cap.  59,  60. 

VOL.  I. — R  33 


386  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

in  fact,  of  essential  service  to  him  throughout  the 
march.3 

The  remainder  of  his  Spanish  force  he  left  in  garri 
son  at  Villa  Rica  de  Vera  Cruz,  the  command  of  which 
he  had  intrusted  to  the  alguacil,  Juan  de  Escalante.  an 
officer  devoted  to  his  interests.  The  selection  was 
judicious.  It  was  important  to  place  there  a  man  who 
would  resist  any  hostile  interference  from  his  European 
rivals,  on  the  one  hand,  and  maintain  the  present 
friendly  relations  with  the  natives,  on  the  other, 
Cortes  recommended  the  Totonac  chiefs  to  apply  to 
this  officer  in  case  of  any  difficulty,  assuring  them  that 
so  long  as  they  remained  faithful  to  their  new  sovereign 
and  religion  they  should  find  a  sure  protection  in  the 
Spaniards. 

Before  marching,  the  general  spoke  a  few  words  of 
encouragement  to  his  own  men.  He  told  them  they 
were  now  to  embark  in  earnest  on  an  enterprise  which 
had  been  the  great  object  of  their  desires,  and  that  the 
blessed  Saviour  would  carry  them  victorious  through 
every  battle  with  their  enemies.  "  Indeed,"  he  added, 
"this  assurance  must  be  our  stay,  for  every  other  re 
fuge  is  now  cut  off  but  that  afforded  by  the  providence 
of  God  and  your  own  stout  hearts. ' ' 4  He  ended  by 

3  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  44. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap. 
83. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  61. — The  number  of  the 
Indian  auxiliaries  stated  in  the  text  is  much  larger  than  that  allowed 
by  either  Cortes  or  Diaz.     But  both  these  actors  in  the  drama  show 
too  obvious  a  desire  to  magnify  their  own  prowess,  by  exaggerating 
the  numbers  of  their  foes  and  diminishing  their  own,  to  be  entitled  to 
much  confidence  in  their  estimates. 

4  "  No  teniamos  otro  socorro,  ni  ayuda  sino  el  de  Dios ;  porque  ya 
no  teniamos  nauios  para  ir  a  Cuba,  salvo  nuestro  buen  pelear  y  cora- 
9ones  fuertes."     Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  59. 


PROCEEDINGS   AT   CEMFOALLA.  387 

comparing  their  achievements  to  those  of  the  ancient 
Romans,  "  in  phrases  of  honeyed  eloquence  far  beyond 
anything  1  can  repeat,"  says  the  brave  and  simple- 
hearted  chronicler  who  heard  them.  Cortes  was,  in 
deed,  master  of  that  eloquence  which  went  to  the 
soldiers'  hearts.  For  their  sympathies  were  his,  and 
he  shared  in  that  romantic  spirit  of  adventure  which 
belonged  to  them.  ''We  are  ready  to  obey  you," 
they  cried  as  with  one  voice.  "Our  fortunes,  for 
better  or  worse,  are  cast  with  yours."  5  Taking  leave, 
therefore,  of  their  hospitable  Indian  friends,  the  little 
army,  buoyant  with  high  hopes  and  lofty  plans  of  con 
quest,  set  forward  on  their  march  to  Mexico. 

It  was  the  sixteenth  of  August,  1519.  During  the 
first  day,  their  road  lay  through  the  tierra  caliente,  the 
beautiful  land  where  they  had  been  so  long  lingering ; 
the  land  of  the  vanilla,  cochineal,  cacao  (not  till  later 
days  of  the  orange  and  the  sugar-cane),  products  which, 
indigenous  to  Mexico,  have  now  become  the  luxuries 
of  Europe ;  the  land  where  the  fruits  and  the  flowers 
chase  one  another  in  unbroken  circle  through  the  year ; 
where  the  gales  are  loaded  with  perfumes  till  the  sense 
aches  at  their  sweetness,  and  the  groves  are  filled  with 
many-colored  birds,  and  insects  whose  enamelled  wings 
glisten  like  diamonds  in  the  bright  sun  of  the  tropics. 
Such  are  the  magical  splendors  of  this  paradise  of  the 
senses.  Yet  Nature,  who  generally  works  in  a  spirit  of 
compensation,  has  provided  one  here  ;  since  the  same 
burning  sun  which  quickens  into  life  these  glories  of 
the  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms  calls  forth  the 

5  "  Y  todos  a  vna  le  rcspondimos,  que  hariamos  lo  que  ordenasse, 
que  echada  estaua  la  suerte  de  la  buena  6  mala  ventura."  Loc.  cit. 


388  MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

pestilent  malaria,  with  its  train  of  bilious  disorders, 
unknown  to  the  cold  skies  of  the  North.  The  season 
in  which  the  Spaniards  were  there,  the  rainy  months 
of  summer,  was  precisely  that  in  which  the  vbmito  rages 
with  greatest  fury ;  when  the  European  stranger  hardly 
ventures  to  set  his  foot  on  shore,  still  less  to  linger  there 
a  day.  We  find  no  mention  made  of  it  in  the  records 
of  the  Conquerors,  nor  any  notice,  indeed,  of  an  un 
common  mortality.  The  fact  doubtless  corroborates 
the  theory  of  those  who  postpone  the  appearance  of 
the  yellow  fever  till  long  after  the  occupation  of  the 
country  by  the  whites.  It  proves,  at  least,  that,  if  ex 
isting  before,  it  must  have  been  in  a  very  much  miti 
gated  form. 

After  some  leagues  of  travel  over  roads  made  nearly 
impassable  by  the  summer  rains,  the  troops  began  the 
gradual  ascent — more  gradual  on  the  eastern  than  the 
western  declivities  of  the  Cordilleras — which  leads  up 
to  the  table-land  of  Mexico.  At  the  close  of  the  second 
day  they  reached  Xalapa,  a  place  still  retaining  the 
same  Aztec  name  that  it  has  communicated  to  the  drug 
raised  in  its  environs,  the  medicinal  virtues  of  which 
are  now  known  throughout  the  world.6  This  town 
stands  midway  up  the  long  ascent,  at  an  elevation 
where  the  vapors  from  the  ocean,  touching  in  their 
westerly  progress,  maintain  a  rich  verdure  throughout 
the  year.  Though  somewhat  infected  by  these  marine 
fogs,  the  air  is  usually  bland  and  salubrious.  The 
wealthy  resident  of  the  lower  regions  retires  here  for 
safety  in  the  heats  of  summer,  and  the  traveller  hails 

6  Jalap,  Convolvulus  jalapa.     The  x  and  j  are  convertible  conso 
nants  in  the  Castilian. 


THE  SPANIARDS  CLIMB    THE   TABLE-LAND.    389 

its  groves  of  oak  with  delight,  as  announcing  that  he  is 
above  the  deadly  influence  of  the  vdmito.1  From  this 
delicious  spot,  the  Spaniards  enjoyed  one  of  the  grandest 
prospects  in  nature.  Before  them  was  the  steep  ascent 
—much  steeper  after  this  point — which  they  were  to 
climb.  On  the  right  rose  the  Sierra  Madre,  girt  with 
its  dark  belt  of  pines,  and  its  long  lines  of  shadowy 
hills  stretching  away  in  the  distance.  To  the  south, 
in  brilliant  contrast,  stood  the  mighty  Orizaba,  with 
his  white  robe  of  snow  descending  far  down  his  sides, 
towering  in  solitary  grandeur,  the  giant  spectre  of  the 
Andes.  Behind  them,  they  beheld,  unrolled  at  their 
feet,  the  magnificent  ticrra  calicnte,  with  its  gay  con 
fusion  of  meadows,  streams,  and  flowering  forests, 
sprinkled  over  with  shining  Indian  villages,  while  a 
faint  line  of  light  on  the  edge  of  the  horizon  told  them 
that  there  was  the  ocean,  beyond  which  were  the  kin 
dred  and  country  they  were  many  of  them  never  more 
to  see. 

Still  winding  their  way  upward,  amidst  scenery  as 
different  as  was  the  temperature  from  that  of  the  re 
gions  below,  the  army  passed  through  settlements  con 
taining  some  hundreds  of  inhabitants  each,  and  on  the 
fourth  day  reached  a  "strong  town,"  as  Cortes  terms 
it,  standing  on  a  rocky  eminence,  supposed  to  be  that 
now  known  by  the  Mexican  name  of  Naulinco.  Here 
they  were  hospitably  entertained  by  the  inhabitants, 
who  were  friends  of  the  Totonacs.  Cortes  endeavored, 

7  The  heights  of  Xalapa  are  crowned  with  a  convent  dedicated  to 
St.  Francis,  erected  in  later  days  by  Cortes,  showing,  in  its  solidity, 
like  others  of  the  period  built  under  the  same  auspices,  says  an  agree 
able  traveller,  a  military  as  well  as  religious  design.  Tudor's  Travels 
in  North  America  (London,  1834),  vol.  ii.  p.  186. 
33* 


390 


MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 


through  Father  Olmedo,  to  impart  to  them  some  knowl 
edge  of  Christian  truths,  which  were  kindly  received, 
and  the  Spaniards  were  allowed  to  erect  a  cross  in  the 
place,  for  the  future  adoration  of  the  natives.  Indeed, 
the  route  of  the  army  might  be  tracked  by  these  em 
blems  of  man's  salvation,  raised  wherever  a  willing 
population  of  Indians  invited  it,  suggesting  a  very  dif 
ferent  idea  from  what  the  same  memorials  intimate  to 
the  traveller  in  these  mountain  solitudes  in  our  day.8 

8  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  i. — Rel.  Seg.  de 
Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  40. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  44. — Ixtlil- 
xochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83. — "  Every  hundred  yards  of  our 
route,"  says  the  traveller  last  quoted,  speaking  of  this  very  region, 
"  was  marked  by  the  melancholy  erection  of  a  wooden  cross,  denot 
ing,  according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  the  commission  of  some 
horrible  murder  on  the  spot  where  it  was  planted."  (Travels  in  North 
America,  vol.  ii.  p.  188.) — [Senor  Alaman  stoutly  defends  his  country 
men  from  this  gross  exaggeration,  as  he  pronounces  it,  of  Mr.  Tudor. 
For  although  it  is  unhappily  true,  he  says,  that  travellers  were  formerly 
liable  to  be  attacked  in  going  from  the  city  of  Mexico  to  Vera  Cruz, 
and  that  the  diligence  which  passes  over  this  road  is  still  frequently 
stopped,  yet  it  is  very  seldom  that  personal  violence  is  offered.  "  For 
eign  tourists  are  prone  to  believe  all  the  stories  of  atrocities  that  are 
related  to  them,  and  generally,  at  inns,  fall  into  the  society  of  persons 
who  take  delight  in  furnishing  a  large  supply  of  such  materials.  The 
crosses  that  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  country  are  not  so  numerous  as 
is  pretended;  nor  are  all  of  them  memorials  of  assassinations  com 
mitted  in  the  places  where  they  have  been  erected.  Many  are  merely 
objects  of  devotion,  and  others  indicate  the  spot  where  two  roads 
diverge  from  each  other.  We  must,  nevertheless,  confess  that  this 
matter  is  one  that  demands  all  the  attention  of  the  government ;  while 
the  candid  foreigner  will  doubtless  admit  that  it  is  not  easy  to  exercise 
police  supervision  over  roads  on  which  the  central  points  of  population 
lie  far  apart,  as  in  countries  like  ours,  instead  of  being  so  near  that 
a  watch  can  be  maintained  from  them  over  the  intermediate  spaces,  as 
is  the  case  in  most  countries  of  Europe  and  in  a  great  part  of  the 
United  States."  Conquista  de  Mejico  (trad,  de  Vega),  torn.  i.  p.  251.] 


ARDUOUS   MARCH.  391 

The  troops  now  entered  a  rugged  defile,  the  Bishop's 
Pass,9  as  it  is  called,  capable  of  easy  defence  against 
an  army.  Very  soon  they  experienced  a  most  unwel 
come  change  of  climate.  Cold  winds  from  the  moun 
tains,  mingled  with  rain,  and,  as  they  rose  still  higher, 
with  driving  sleet  and  hail,  drenched  their  garments, 
and  seemed  to  penetrate  to  their  very  bones.  The 
Spaniards,  indeed,  partially  covered  by  their  armor 
and  thick  jackets  of  quilted  cotton,  were  better  able  to 
resist  the  weather,  though  their  long  residence  in  the 
sultry  regions  of  the  valley  made  them  still  keenly 
sensible  to  the  annoyance.  But  the  poor  Indians, 
natives  of  the  tierra  calicnte,  with  little  protection  in 
the  way  of  covering,  sank  under  the  rude  assault  of 
the  elements,  and  several  of  them  perished  on  the  road. 

The  aspect  of  the  country  was  as  wild  and  dreary  as 
the  climate.  Their  route  wound  along  the  spur  of  the 
huge  Cofre  de  Perote,  which  borrows  its  name,  both 
in  Mexican  and  Castilian,  from  the  coffer-like  rock 
on  its  summit.10  It  is  one  of  the  great  volcanoes  of 
New  Spain.  It  exhibits  now,  indeed,  no  vestige  of  a 
crater  on  its  top,  but  abundant  traces  of  volcanic  action 
at  its  base,  where  acres  of  lava,  blackened  scoriae,  and 
cinders  proclaim  the  convulsions  of  nature,  while  nu 
merous  shrubs  and  mouldering  trunks  of  enormous 
trees,  among  the  crevices,  attest  the  antiquity  of  these 

9  El  Paso  del  Obispo.    Cortes  named  it  Puerto  del  Nombre  de  Dios. 
Viaje,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  ii. 

10  The  Aztec  name  is  Nauhcampatepetl,  from  nauhcampa,  "any 
thing  square,"  and  tepctl,  "a  mountain."— Humboldt,  who  waded 
through  forests  and  snows  to  its  summit,  ascertained  its  height  to  be 
4089  metres,  =  13,414  feet,  above  the  sea.     See  his  Vues  des  Cor* 
dilleres,  p.  234,  and  Essai  politique,  vol.  i.  p.  266. 


392 


MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 


events.  Working  their  toilsome  way  across  this  scene 
of  desolation,  the  path  often  led  them  along  the  bor 
ders  of  precipices,  down  whose  sheer  depths  of  two  or 
three  thousand  feet  the  shrinking  eye  might  behold 
another  climate,  and  see  all  the  glowing  vegetation  of 
the  tropics  choking  up  the  bottom  of  the  ravines. 

After  three  days  of  this  fatiguing  travel,  the  way 
worn  army  emerged  through  another  defile,  the  Sierra 
del  Agua.n  They  soon  came  upon  an  open  reach  of 
country,  with  a  genial  climate,  such  as  belongs  to  the 
temperate  latitudes  of  southern  Europe.  They  had 
reached  the  level  of  more  than  seven  thousand  feet 
above  the  ocean,  where  the  great  sheet  of  table-land 
spreads  out  for  hundreds  of  miles  along  the  crests  of 
the  Cordilleras.  The  country  showed  signs  of  careful 
cultivation,  but  the  products  were,  for  the  most  part, 
not  familiar  to  the  eyes  of  the  Spaniards.  Fields  and 
hedges  of  the  various  tribes  of  the  cactus,  the  towering 
organum,  and  plantations  of  aloes  with  rich  yellow 
clusters  of  flowers  on  their  tall  stems,  affording  drink 
and  clothing  to  the  Aztec,  were  everywhere  seen.  The 
plants  of  the  torrid  and  temperate  zones'  had  disap 
peared,  one  after  another,  with  the  ascent  into  these 
elevated  regions.  The  glossy  and  dark-leaved  banana, 
the  chief,  as  it  is  the  cheapest,  aliment  of  the  coun 
tries  below,  had  long  since  faded  from  the  landscape. 
The  hardy  maize,  however,  still  shone  with  its  golden 
harvests  in  all  the  pride  of  cultivation,  the  great  staple 
of  the  higher  equally  with  the  lower  terraces  of  the 
plateau. 

11  The  same  mentioned  in  Cortes'  Letter  as  the  Puerto  de  la  Lena. 
Viaje,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  iii. 


TRANSACTIONS    WITH    THE    NATIVES.       393 

Suddenly  the  troops  came  upon  what  seemed  the 
environs  of  a  populous  city,  which,  as  they  entered  it, 
appeared  to  surpass  even  that  of  Cempoalla  in  the  size 
and  solidity  of  its  structures.12  These  were  of  stone 
and  lime,  many  of  them  spacious  and  tolerably  high. 
There  were  thirteen  tcocallis  in  the  place ;  and  in  the 
suburbs  they  had  seen  a  receptacle,  in  which,  according 
to  Bernal  Diaz,  were  stored  a  hundred  thousand  skulls 
of  human  victims,  all  piled  and  ranged  in  order  !  He 
reports  the  number  as  one  he  had  ascertained  by  count 
ing  them  himself.13  Whatever  faith  we  may  attach  to 
the  precise  accuracy  of  his  figures,  the  result  is  almost 
equally  startling.  The  Spaniards  were  destined  to 
become  familiar  with  this  appalling  spectacle  as  they 
approached  nearer  to  the  Aztec  capital. 

The  lord  of  the  town  ruled  over  twenty  thousand 
vassals.  He  was  tributary  to  Montezuma,  and  a  strong 
Mexican  garrison  was  quartered  in  the  place.  He  had 
probably  been  advised  of  the  approach  of  the  Span 
iards,  and  doubted  how  far  it  would  be  welcome  to  his 
sovereign.  At  all  events,  he  gave  them  a  cold  recep 
tion,  the  more  unpalatable  after  the  extraordinary  suf 
ferings  of  the  last  few  days.  To  the  inquiry  of  Cortes, 
whether  he  were  subject  to  Montezuma,  he  answered, 

12  Now  known  by  the  euphonious  Indian  name  of  Tlatlanquitepec. 
(Viaje,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  iv.)  It  is  the  Cocotlan  of  Bernal  Diaz. 
(Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  61.)  The  old  Conquerors  made  sorry 
work  with  the  Aztec  names,  both  of  places  and  persons,  for  which 
they  must  be  allowed  to  have  had  ample  excuse. 

J3  "  Puestos  tantos  rimeros  de  calaueras  de  muertos,  que  se  podian 
bien  contar,  segun  el  concierto  con  que  estauan  puestas,  que  me  parece 
que  eran  mas  de  cien  mil,  y  digo  otra  vez  sobre  cien  mil."     Ibid., 
ubi  supra. 
R* 


MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

with  real  or  affected  surprise,  "Who  is  there  that  is 
not  a  vassal  of  Montezuma  ?' '  u  The  general  told 
him,  with  some  emphasis,  that  7/^was  not.  He  then  ex 
plained  whence  and  why  he  came,  assuring  him  that 
he  served  a  monarch  who  had  princes  for  his  vassals  as 
powerful  as  the  Aztec  monarch  himself. 

The  cacique,  in  turn,  fell  nothing  short  of  the 
Spaniard  in  the  pompous  display  of  the  grandeur  and 
resources  of  the  Indian  emperor.  He  told  his  guest 
that  Montezuma  could  muster  thirty  great  vassals,  each 
master  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  ! IS  His  revenues 
were  immense,  as  every  subject,  however  poor,  paid 
something.  They  were  all  expended  on  his  magnifi 
cent  state  and  in  support  of  his  armies.  These  were 
continually  in  the  field,  while  garrisons  were  main 
tained  in  most  of  the  large  cities  of  the  empire.  More 
than  twenty  thousand  victims,  the  fruit  of  his  wars, 
were  annually  sacrificed  on  the  altars  of  his  gods  !  His 
capital,  the  cacique  said,  stood  in  a  lake,  in  the  centre 
of  a  spacious  valley.  The  lake  was  commanded  by 
the  emperor's  vessels,  and  the  approach  to  the  city 
was  by  means  of  causeways,  several  miles  long,  con 
nected  in  parts  by  wooden  bridges,  which,  when  raised, 

*4  "  El  qual  casi  admirado  de  lo  que  le  preguntaba,  me  rcspondio, 
diciendo  ;  i  que  quien  no  era  vasallo  de  Muctezuma?  queriendo  decir, 
que  alii  era  Senor  del  Mundo."  Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana, 
p.  47. 

JS  "  Tiene  mas  de  30  Pn'ncipes  a  si  subjectos,  que  cada  uno  dellos 
tiene  cient  mill  hombres  e  mas  de  pelea."  (Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind., 
MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  i.)  This  marvellous  tale  is  gravely  repeated  by 
more  than  one  Spanish  writer,  in  their  accounts  of  the  Aztec  mon 
archy,  not  as  the  assertion  of  this  chief,  but  as  a  veritable  piece  of 
statistics.  See,  among  others,  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  7, 
cap.  12. — Solis,  Conquista,  lib.  3,  cap.  16. 


TRANSACTIONS   WITH    THE    NATIVES.      395 

cut  off  all  communication  with  the  country.  Some 
other  things  he  added,  in  answer  to  queries  of  his 
guest,  in  which,  as  the  reader  may  imagine,  the  crafty 
or  credulous  cacique  varnished  over  the  truth  with  a 
lively  coloring  of  romance.  Whether  romance,  or 
reality,  the  Spaniards  could  not  determine.  The  par 
ticulars  they  gleaned  were  not  of  a  kind  to  tranquillize 
their  minds,  and  might  well  have  made  bolder  hearts 
than  theirs  pause,  ere  they  advanced.  But  far  from 
it.  "  The  words  which  we  heard,"  says  the  stout  old 
cavalier  so  often  quoted,  "however  they  may  have 
filled  us  with  wonder,  made  us — such  is  the  temper 
of  the  Spaniard — only  the  more  earnest  to  prove  the 
adventure,  desperate  as  it  might  appear. ' ' 

In  a  further  conversation  Cortes  inquired  of  the 
chief  whether  his  country  abounded  in  gold,  and  inti 
mated  a  desire  to  take  home  some,  as  specimens,  to  his 
sovereign.  But  the  Indian  lord  declined  to  give  him 
any,  saying  it  might  displease  Montezuma.  ' '  Should 
he  command  it,"  he  added,  "my  gold,  my  person, 
and  all  I  possess,  shall  be  at  your  disposal."  The 
general  did  not  press  the  matter  further. 

The  curiosity  of  the  natives'  was  naturally  excited 
by  the  strange  dresses,  weapons,  horses,  and  dogs  of 
the  Spaniards.  Marina,  in  satisfying  their  inquiries, 
took  occasion  to  magnify  the  prowess  of  her  adopted 
countrymen,  expatiating  on  their  exploits  and  victo 
ries,  and  stating  the  extraordinary  marks  of  respect 

16  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  61. — There  is  a  slight 
ground-swell  of  glorification  in  the  Captain's  narrative,  which  may 
provoke  a  smile, — not  a  sneer,  for  it  is  mingled  with  too  much  real 
courage  and  simplicity  of  character. 


396  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

they  had  received  from  Montezuma.  This  intelligence 
seems  to  have  had  its  effect ;  for  soon  after  the  cacique 
gave  the  general  some  curious  trinkets  of  gold,  of  no 
great  value,  indeed,  but  as  a  testimony  of  his  good  will. 
He  sent  him,  also,  some  female  slaves  to  prepare  bread 
for  the  troops,  and  supplied  the  means  of  refreshment 
and  repose,  more  important  to  them,  in  the  present 
juncture,  than  all  the  gold  of  Mexico.17 

The  Spanish  general,  as  usual,  did  not  neglect  the 
occasion  to  inculcate  the  great  truths  of  revelation  on 
his  host,  and  to  display  the  atrocity  of  the  Indian 
superstitions.  The  cacique  listened  with  civil  but 
cold  indifference.  Cortes,  finding  him  unmoved, 
turned  briskly  round  to  his  soldiers,  exclaiming  that 
now  was  the  time  to  plant  the  Cross  !  They  eagerly 
seconded  his  pious  purpose,  and  the  same  scenes  might 
have  been  enacted  as  at  Cempoalla,  with  perhaps  very 
different  results,  had  not  Father  Olmedo,  with  better 
judgment,  interposed.  He  represented  that  to  intro 
duce  the  Cross  among  the  natives,  in  their  present  state 
of  ignorance  and  incredulity,  would  be  to  expose  the 
sacred  symbol  to  desecration  so  soon  as  •  the  backs  of 
the  Spaniards  were  turned.  The  only  way  was  to  wait 
patiently  the  season  when  more  leisure  should  be  af 
forded  to  instil  into  their  minds  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth.  The  sober  reasoning  of  the  good  father  pre 
vailed  over  the  passions  of  the  martial  enthusiasts. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Cortes  that  Olmedo  was  not  one 

J7  For  the  preceding  pages,  besides  authorities  cited  in  course,  see 
Peter  Martyr,  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap.  i,  — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist. 
Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83, — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  44, — Torquemada, 
Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  4,  cap.  26. 


TRANSACTION'S   WITH    THE    NATIVES.       397 

of  those  frantic  friars  who  would  have  fanned  his  fiery 
temper  on  such  occasions  into  a  blaze.  It  might  have 
had  a  most  disastrous  influence  on  his  fortunes ;  for 
he  held  all  temporal  consequences  light  in  comparison 
with  the  great  work  of  conversion,  to  effect  which  the 
unscrupulous  mind  of  the  soldier,  trained  to  the  stern 
discipline  of  the  camp,  would  have  employed  force 
whenever  fair  means  were  ineffectual.18  But  Olmedo 
belonged  to  that  class  of  benevolent  missionaries — of 
whom  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  to  its  credit,  has 
furnished  many  examples — who  rely  on  spiritual  weap 
ons  for  the  great  work,  inculcating  those  doctrines  of 
love  and  mercy  which  can  best  touch  the  sensibilities 
and  win  the  affections  of  their  rude  audience.  These, 
indeed,  are  the  true  weapons  of  the  Church,  the  weap 
ons  employed  in  the  primitive  ages,  by  which  it  has 
spread  its  peaceful  banners  over  the  farthest  regions  of 
the  globe.  Such  were  not  the  means  used  by  the  con 
querors  of  America,  who,  rather  adopting  the  policy 
of  the  victorious  Moslems  in  their  early  career,  carried 
with  them  the  sword  in  one  hand  and  the  Bible  in  the 
other.  They  imposed  obedience  in  matters  of  faith, 
no  less  than  of  government,  on  the  vanquished,  little 
heeding  whether  the  conversion  were  genuine,  so  that 
it  conformed  to  the  outward  observances  of  the  Church. 
Yet  the  seeds  thus  recklessly  scattered  must  have  per 
ished  but  for  the  missionaries  of  their  own  nation,  who, 

18  The  general  clearly  belonged  to  the  church  militant,  mentionel 
by  Butler: 

"  Such  as  do  build  their  faith  upon 
The  holy  text  of  pike  and  gun, 
And  prove  their  doctrines  orthodox 
By  apostolic  blows  and  knocks."        _, 

VOL.  I.  34 


398 


MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 


in  later  times,  worked  over  the  same  ground,  living 
among  the  Indians  as  brethren,  and,  by  long  and 
patient  culture,  enabling  the  germs  of  truth  to  take 
root  and  fructify  in  their  hearts. 

The  Spanish  commander  remained  in  the  city  four 
or  five  days,  to  recruit  his  fatigued  and  famished  forces  ; 
and  the  modern  Indians  still  point  out,  or  did,  at  the 
close  of  the  last  century,  a  venerable  cypress,  under 
the  branches  of  which  was  tied  the  horse  of  the  Con 
quistador, — the  Conqueror,  as  Cortes  was  styled,  par 
excellence.^  Their  route  now  opened  on  a  broad  and 
verdant  valley,  watered  by  a  noble  stream, — a  circum 
stance  of  not  too  frequent  occurrence  on  the  parched 
table-land  of  New  Spain.  The  soil  was  well  protected 
by  woods, — a  thing  still  rarer  at  the  present  day ;  since 
the  invaders,  soon  after  the  Conquest,  swept  away  the 
magnificent  growth  of  timber,  rivalling  that  of  our 
Southern  and  Western  States  in  variety  and  beauty, 
which  covered  the  plateau  under  the  Aztecs.20 

All  along  the  river,  on  both  sides  of  it,  an  unbroken 
line  of  Indian  dwellings,  "so  near  as  almost  to  touch 
one  another,"  extended  for  three  or  four  leagues; 
arguing  a  population  much  denser  than  at  present.2'- 

T9  "  Arbol  grande,  dicho  ahuehuete."  (Viaje,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p,  iii.) 
The  cupressus  disticha  of  Linnaeus.  See  Humboldt,  Essai  politique, 
torn.  ii.  p.  54,  note. 

20  It  is  the  same  taste  which  has  made  the  Castiles,  the  table-land  of 
the  Peninsula,  so  naked  of  wood.  Prudential  reasons,  as  well  as  taste, 
however,  seem  to  have  operated  in  New  Spain.  A  friend  of  mine  on 
a  visit  to  a  noble  hacienda,  but  uncommonly  barren  of  trees,  was  in 
formed  by  the  proprietor  that  they  were  cut  down  to  prevent  the  lazy 
Indians  on  the  plantation  from  wasting  their  time  by  loitering  in  their 
thade ! 

81  It  confirms  the  observations  of  M.  de  Humboldt.     "  Sansdoute 


TRANSACTIONS  WITH   THE    NATIVES.      399 

On  a  rough  and  rising  ground  stood  a  town  that  might 
contain  five  or  six  thousand  inhabitants,  commanded 
by  a  fortress,  which,  with  its  walls  and  trenches,  seemed 
to  the  Spaniards  quite  "on  a  level  with  similar  works 
in  Europe."  Here  the  troops  again  halted,  and  met 
with  friendly  treatment.22 

Cortes  now  determined  his  future  line  of  march.  At 
the  last  place  he  had  been  counselled  by  the  natives  to 
take  the  route  of  the  ancient  city  of  Cholula,  the  in 
habitants  of  which,  subjects  of  Montezuma,  were  a  mild 
race,  devoted  to  mechanical  and  other  peaceful  arts, 
and  would  be  likely  to  entertain  him  kindly.  Their 
Cempoallan  allies,  however,  advised  the  Spaniards  not 
to  trust  the  Cholulans,  "  a  false  and  perfidious  people," 
but  to  take  the  road  to  Tlascala,  that  valiant  little  re 
public  which  had  so  long  maintained  its  independence 
against  the  arms  of  Mexico.  The  people  were  frank  as 
they  were  fearless,  and  fair  in  their  dealings.  They 
had  always  been  on  terms  of  amity  with  the  Totonacs, 
which  afforded  a  strong  guarantee  for  their  amicable 
disposition  on  the  present  occasion. 

lors  de  la  premiere  arrivee  des  Espagnols,  toute  cette  cote,  depuis  la 
riviere  de  Papaloapan  (Alvarado)  jusqu'a  Huaxtecapan,  etait  plus 
habitee  et  mieux  cultivee  qu'elle  ne  Test  aujourd'hui.  Cependant  a 
mesure  que  les  conquerans  monterent  au  plateau,  ils  trouverent  Ics 
villages  plus  rapproches  les  uns  des  autres,  les  champs  divises  en  por 
tions  plus  petites,  le  peuple  plus  police."  Humboldt,  Essai  politiqne, 
torn.  ii.  p.  202. 

22  The  correct  Indian  name  of  the  town,  YxtacamaxtitLin,  Yztac- 
mastitan  of  Cortes,  will  hardly  be  recognized  in  the  Xalacingo  of 
Diaz.  The  town  was  removed,  in  1601,  from  the  top  of  the  hill  to  the 
plain.  On  the  original  site  are  still  visible  remains  of  carved  stones 
of  large  dimensions,  attesting  the  elegance  of  the  ancient  fortress  or 
palace  of  the  cacique.  Viaje,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  v. 


400  MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

The  arguments  of  his  Indian  allies  prevailed  with 
the  Spanish  commander,  who  resolved  to  propitiate  the 
good  will  of  the  Tlascalans  by  an  embassy.  He  se 
lected  four  of  the  principal  Cempoallans  for  this,  and 
sent  by  them  a  martial  gift, — a  cap  of  crimson  cloth, 
together  with  a  sword  and  a  cross-bow,  weapons  which, 
it  was  observed,  excited  general  admiration  among  the 
natives.  He  added  a  letter,  in  which  he  asked  per 
mission  to  pass  through  their  country.  He  expressed 
his  admiration  of  the  valor  of  the  Tlascalans,  and  of 
their  long  resistance  to  the  Aztecs,  whose  proud  empire 
he  designed  to  humble.23  It  was  not  to  be  expected 
that  this  epistle,  indited  in  good  Castilian,  would  be 
very  intelligible  to  the  Tlascalans.  But  Cortes  com 
municated  its  import  to  the  ambassadors.  Its  myste 
rious  characters  might  impress  the  natives  with  an  idea 
of  superior  intelligence,  and  the  letter  serve  instead  of 
those  hieroglyphical  missives  which  formed  the  usual 
credentials  of  an  Indian  ambassador.24 

The  Spaniards  remained  three  days  in  this  hospi 
table  place,  after  the  departure  of  the  envoys,  when 
they  resumed  their  progress.  Although  'in  a  friendly 
country,  they  marched  always  as  if  in  a  land  of  ene 
mies,  the  horse  and  light  troops  in  the  van,  with  the 
heavy-armed  and  baggage  in  the  rear,  all  in  battle- 
array.  They  were  never  without  their  armor,  waking 
or  sleeping,  lying  down  with  their  weapons  by  their 
sides.  This  unintermitting  and  restless  vigilance  was, 

a3  "  Estas  cosas  y  otras  de  gran  persuasion  contenia  la  cr.rta,  pero 
como  no  sabian  leer  no  pudieron  entender  lo  que  contenia."  Ca- 
margo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. 

=4  For  an  account  of  the  diplomatic  usages  of  the  people  of  Ana- 
huac,  see  ante,  p.  45. 


EM  ft  ASSY    TO    TLASCALA.  401 

perhaps,  more  oppressive  to  the  spirits  than  even  bodily 
fatigue.  But  they  were  confident  in  their  superiority  in 
a  fair  field,  and  felt  that  the  most  serious  danger  they 
had  to  fear  from  Indian  warfare  was  surprise.  "  We  are 
few  against  many,  brave  companions,"  Cortes  would 
say  to  them;  ''be  prepared,  then,  not  as  if  you  were 
going  to  battle,  but  as  if  actually  in  the  midst  of  it !"  2S 

The  road  taken  by  the  Spaniards  was  the  same  which 
at  present  leads  to  Tlascala ;  not  that,  however,  usually 
followed  in  passing  from  Vera  Cruz  to  the  capital,  which 
makes  a  circuit  considerably  to  the  south,  towards  Pue- 
bla,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  ancient  Cholula.  They 
more  than  once  forded  the  stream  that  rolls  through 
this  beautiful  plain,  lingering  several  days  on  the  way, 
in  hopes  of  receiving  an  answer  from  the  Indian  re 
public.  The  unexpected  delay  of  the  messengers  could 
not  be  explained,  and  occasioned  some  uneasiness. 

As  they  advanced  into  a  country  of  rougher  and 
bolder  features,  their  progress  was  suddenly  arrested 
by  a  remarkable  fortification.  It  was  a  stone  wall  nine 
feet  in  height,  and  twenty  in  thickness,  with  a  parapet, 
a  foot  and  a  half  broad,  raised  on  the  summit  for  the 
protection  of  those  who  defended  it.  It  had  only  one 
opening,  in  the  centre,  made  by  two  semicircular  lines 
of  wall  overlapping  each  other  for  the  space  of  forty 
paces,  and  affording  a  passage-way  between,  ten  paces 
wide,  so  contrived,  therefore,  as  to  be  perfectly  com 
manded  by  the  inner  wall.  This  fortification,  which 

2S  "  Mira,  senores  companeros,  ya  veis  que  somos  pocos,  hemos  de 
estar  siempre  tan  npercebiclos,  y  aparejados,  como  si  aora  viessemos 
venir  los  contraries  a  pelear,  y  no  solamente  vellos  venir,  sino  hazer 
cuenta  que  estamos  ya  en  la  batalla  con  ellos."  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist. 
de  la  Conquista,  cap.  62. 

34* 


402  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

extended  more  than  two  leagues,  rested  at  either  end 
on  the  bold  natural  buttresses  formed  by  the  sierra. 
The  work  was  built  of  immense  blocks  of  stones  nicely 
laid  together  without  cement ;  *  and  the  remains  still 
existing,  among  which  are  rocks  of  the  whole  breadth 
of  the  rampart,  fully  attest  its  solidity  and  size.27 

This  singular  structure  marked  the  limits  of  Tlas- 
cala,  and  was  intended,  as  the  natives  told  the  Span 
iards,  as  a  barrier  against  the  Mexican  invasions.  The 
army  paused,  filled  with  amazement  at  the  contem 
plation  of  this  Cyclopean  monument,  which  naturally 
suggested  reflections  on  the  strength  arid  resources  of 
the  people  who  had  raised  it.  It  caused  them,  too, 
some  painful  solicitude  as  to  the  probable  result  of 
their  mission  to  Tlascala,  and  their  own  consequent 
reception  there.  But  they  were  too  sanguine  to  allow 
such  uncomfortable  surmises  long  to  dwell  in  their 
minds.  Cortes  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry, 
and,  calling  out,  "Forward,  soldiers,  the  Holy  Cross 
is  our  banner,  and  under  that  we  shall  conquer,"  led 
his  little  army  through  the  undefended  passage,  and  in 
a  few  moments  they  trod  the  soil  of  the  free  republic 
of  Tiascala.28 

26  According  to  the  writer  last  cited,  the  stones  were  held  by  a 
cement  so  hard  that  the  men  could  scarcely  break  it  with  their  pikes. 
(Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  62.)     But  the  contrary  statement,  in  the 
general's  letter,  is  confirmed  by  the  present  appearance  of  the  wall. 
Viaje,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  vii. 

27  Viaje,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  vii. — The  attempts  of  the  Archbishop  to 
identify  the  route  of  Cortes  have  been  very  successful.     It  is  a  pity 
that  his  map  illustrating  the  itinerary  should  be  so  worthless. 

28  Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.— Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  44,  45. 
— Ixtlilxochitl,   Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83. — Herrera,  Hist,  general, 
dec.  2,  lib.  6,  cap.  3.— Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  2. 
— Peter  Martyr,  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap.  i. 


CHAPTER    II. 

REPUBLIC  OF  TLASCALA.  -  ITS  INSTITUTIONS.  -  EARLY 
HISTORY.  —  DISCUSSIONS  IN  THE  SENATE.  -  DESPERATE 
BATTLES. 


BEFORE  advancing  further  with  the  Spaniards  into 
the  territory  of  Tlascala,  it  will  be  well  to  notice  some 
traits  in  the  character  and  institutions  of  the  nation, 
in  many  respects  the  most  remarkable  in  Anahuac. 
The  Tlascalans  belonged  to  the  same  great  family  with 
the  Aztecs.1  They  came  on  the  grand  plateau  about 
the  same  time  with  the  kindred  races,  at  the  close  of 
the  twelfth  century,  and  planted  themselves  on  the 
western  borders  of  the  lake  of  Tezcuco.  Here  they 
remained  many  years,  engaged  in  the  usual  pursuits 
of  a  bold  and  partially  civilized  people.  From  some 
cause  or  other,  perhaps  their  turbulent  temper,  they 
incurred  the  enmity  of  surrounding  tribes.  A  coali 
tion  was  formed  against  them  ;  and  a  bloody  battle 
was  fought  on  the  plains  of  Poyauhtlan,  in  which  the 
Tlascalans  \vere  completely  victorious. 

1  The  Indian  chronicler,  Camargo,  considers  his  nation  a  branch 
of  the  Chichimec.  (Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.)  So,  also,  Torquemada. 
(Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  3,  cap.  9.)  Clavigero,  who  has  carefully  investi 
gated  the  antiquities  of  Anahuac,  calls  it  one  of  the  seven  Nahuatlac 
tribes.  (Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  153,  nota.)  The  fact  is  not  of 
great  moment,  since  they  were  all  cognate  races,  speaking  the  same 
tongue,  and,  probably,  migrated  from  their  country  in  the  far  North 
at  nearly  the  same  time. 

(403) 


4o4  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

Disgusted,  however,  with  their  residence  among 
nations  with  whom  they  found  so  little  favor,  the  con 
quering  people  resolved  to  migrate.  They  separated 
into  three  divisions,  the  largest  of  which,  taking  a 
southern  course  by  the  great  volcan  of  Mexico,  wound 
round  the  ancient  city  of  Cholula,  and  finally  settled 
in  the  district  of  country  overshadowed  by  the  sierra 
of  Tlascala.  The  warm  and  fruitful  valleys,  locked  up 
in  the  embraces  of  this  rugged  brotherhood  of  moun 
tains,  afforded  means  of  subsistence  for  an  agricultural 
people,  while  the  bold  eminences  of  the  sierra  pre 
sented  secure  positions  for  their  towns. 

After  the  lapse  of  years,  the  institutions  of  the  nation 
underwent  an  important  change.  The  monarchy  was 
divided  first  into  two,  afterwards  into  four  separate  states, 
bound  together  by  a  sort  of  federal  compact,  probably 
not  very  nicely  defined.  Each  state,  however,  had  its 
lord  or  supreme  chief,  independent  in  his  own  terri 
tories,  and  possessed  of  co-ordinate  authority  with  the 
others  in  all  matters  concerning  the  whole  republic. 
The  affairs  of  government,  especially  all  those  relating 
to  peace  and  war,  were  settled  in  a  senate  or  council, 
consisting  of  the  four  lords  with  their  inferior  nobles. 

The  lower  dignitaries  held  of  the  superior,  each  in 
his  own  district,  by  a  kind  of  feudal  tenure,  being 
bound  to  supply  his  table  and  enable  him  to  maintain 
his  state  in  peace,  as  well  as  to  serve  him  in  war.2  In 

2  The  descendants  of  these  petty  nobles  attached  as  great  value  to 
their  pedigrees  as  any  Biscayan  or  Asturian  in  Old  Spain,  Long  after 
the  Conquest,  they  refused,  however  needy,  to  dishonor  their  birth  by 
resorting  to  mechanical  or  other  plebeian  occupations,  oficios  viles  y 
bajos.  "  Los  descendientes  de  estos  son  estimados  por  hombres  califi- 
cados,  que  aunque  scan  pobrisimos  no  usan  oficios  mecanicos  ni 


REPUBLIC    OF    TLASCALA.  405 

return,  he  experienced  the  aid  and  protection  of  his 
suzerain.  The  same  mutual  obligations  existed  between 
him  and  the  followers  among  whom  his  own  territories 
were  distributed.3  Thus  a  chain  of  feudal  dependen 
cies  was  established,  which,  if  not  contrived  with  all 
the  art  and  legal  refinements  of  analogous  institutions 
in  the  Old  World,  displayed  their  most  prominent  char 
acteristics  in  its  personal  relations,  the  obligations  of 
military  service  on  the  one  hand,  and  protection  on 
the  other.  This  form  of  government,  so  different  from 
that  of  the  surrounding  nations,  subsisted  till  the  arrival 
of  the  Spaniards.  And  it  is  certainly  evidence  of  con 
siderable  civilization  that  so  complex  a  polity  should 
have  so  long  continued,  undisturbed  by  violence  or 
faction  in  the  confederate  states,  and  should  have  been 
found  competent  to  protect  the  people  in  their  rights, 
and  the  country  from  foreign  invasion. 

The  lowest  order  of  the  people,  however,  do  not 
seem  to  have  enjoyed  higher  immunities  than  under 
the  monarchical  governments ;  and  their  rank  was 

tratos  bajos  ni  viles,  ni  jamas  se  permiten  cargar  ni  cabar  con  coas  y 
azadones,  diciendo  que  son  hijos  Idalgos  en  que  no  ban  de  aplicarse 
&  estas  cosas  soeces  y  bajas,  sino  servir  en  guerras  y  fronteras,  como 
Idalgos,  y  morir  como  hombres  peleando."  Camargo,  Hist,  de 
Tlascala,  MS. 

3  "  Cualquier  Tecuhtli  que  formaba  un  Tecalli,  que  es  casa  de 
Ivfayorazgo,  todas  aquellas  tierras  que  le  caian  en  suerte  de  reparti- 
miento,  con  montes,  fuentes,  rios,  6  lagunas  tomase  para  la  casa  prin 
cipal  la  mayor  y  mejor  suerte  6  pagos  de  tierra,  y  luego  las  demas  que 
quedaban  se  partian  por  sus  soldados  amigos  y  parientes,  igualmente, 
y  todos  estos  estdn  obligados  a  reconocer  la  casa  mayor  y  acudir  a 
ella,  a  alzarla  y  repararla,  y  £  ser  continues  en  reconocer  d  ella  de 
aves,  caza,  flores,  y  ramos  para  el  sustento  de  la  casa  del  Mayorazgo, 
y  el  que  lo  es  esta  obligado  &  sustentarlos  y  d  regalarlos  como  amigos 
de  aquelki  cas:i  y  parientes  de  ella."  Ibid.,  MS. 


406  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

carefully  defined  by  an  appropriate  dress,  and  by  their 
exclusion  from  the  insignia  of  the  aristocratic  orders.4 

The  nation,  agricultural  in  its  habits,  reserved  its 
highest  honors,  like  most  other  rude — unhappily,  also, 
civilized — nations,  for  military  prowess.  Public  games 
were  instituted,  and  prizes  decreed  to  those  who  ex 
celled  in  such  manly  and  athletic  exercises  as  might 
train  them  for  the  fatigues  of  war.  Triumphs  were 
granted  to  the  victorious  general,  who  entered  the  city, 
leading  his  spoils  and  captives  in  long  procession,  while 
his  achievements  were  commemorated  in  national  songs, 
and  his  effigy,  whether  in  wood  or  stone,  was  erected 
in  the  temples.  It  was  truly  in  the  martial  spirit  of 
republican  Rome.4 

An  institution  not  unlike  knighthood  was  introduced, 
very  similar  to  one  existing  also  among  the  Aztecs. 
The  aspirant  to  the  honors  of  this  barbaric  chivalry 
watched  his  arms  and  fasted  fifty  or  sixty  days  in  the 
temple,  then  listened  to  a  grave  discourse  on  the  duties 
of  his  new  profession.  Various  whimsical  ceremonies 
followed,  when  his  arms  were  restored  to  him ;  he  was 
led  in  solemn  procession  through  the  public  streets, 
and  the  inauguration  wras  concluded  by  banquets  and 
public  rejoicings.  The  new  knight  wras  distinguished 
henceforth  by  certain  peculiar  privileges,  as  well  as  by 
a  badge  intimating  his  rank.  It  is  worthy  of  remark 

4  Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. 

5  "  Los  grandes  recibimientos  que  hacian  d  los  capitanes  que  venian 
y  alcanzaban  victoria  en  las  guerras,  las  fiestas  y  solenidades  ccn  que 
se  solenizaban  a  manera  de  triunfo,  que  los  metian  en  andas  en  su 
puebla,  trayendo  consigo  a  los  vencidos ;  y  por  eternizar  sus  hazanas 
se  las  cantaban  publicamente,  y  ansi  quedaban  memoradas  y  con 
estatuas  que  les  ponian  en  los  templos."     Ibid.,  MS. 


ITS    INSTITUTIONS.  407 

that  this  honor  was  not  reserved  exclusively  for  military 
merit,  but  was  the  recompense,  also,  of  public  services 
of  other  kinds,  as  wisdom  in  council,  or  sagacity  and 
success  in  trade.  For  trade  was  held  in  as  high 
estimation  by  the  Tlascalans  as  by  the  other  people 
of  Anahuac.6 

The  temperate  climate  of  the  table-land  furnished 
the  ready  means  for  distant  traffic.  The  fruitfulness 
of  the  soil  was  indicated  by  the  name  of  the  country, 
—  Tlascala  signifying  the  "  land  of  bread."  Its  wide 
plains,  to  the  slopes  of  its  rocky  hills,  waved  with 
yellow  harvests  of  maize,  and  with  the  bountiful 
maguey,  a  plant  which,  as  we  have  seen,  supplied  the 
materials  for  some  important  fabrics.  With  these,  as 
well  as  the  products  of  agricultural  industry,  the  mer 
chant  found  his  way  down  the  sides  of  the  Cordilleras, 
wandered  over  the  .sunny  regions  at  their  base,  and 
brought  back  the  luxuries  which  nature  had  denied  to 
his  own.7 

The  various  arts  of  civilization  kept  pace  with  in 
creasing  wealth  and  public  prosperity ;  at  least,  these 
arts  were  cultivated  to  the  same  limited  extent,  appar 
ently,  as  among  the  other  people  of  Anahuac.  The 
Tlascalan  tongue,  says  the  national  historian,  simple  as 
beseemed  that  of  a  mountain  region,  was  rough  com 
pared  with  the  polished  Tezcucan  or  the  popular  Aztec 

6  For  the  whole  ceremony  of  inauguration, — though,  as  it  seems, 
having  especial  reference  to  the  merchant-knights,— see  Appendix, 
Part  2,  No.  9.  where  the  original  is  given  from  Camargo. 

7  "  Ha  bel  paese,"  says  the  Anonymous  Conqueror,  speaking  of 
Tlascala  at  the  time  of  the  invasion,  "  di  pianure  et  motagne,  et  e 
provincia  popolosa  et  vi  si  raccoglie  molto  pane."     Rel.  d'un  gentil' 
huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  p.  308. 


4o8  MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

dialect,  and,  therefore,  not  so  well  fitted  for  composi 
tion.  But  the  Tlascalans  made  like  proficiency  with 
the  kindred  nations  in  the  rudiments  of  science. 
Their  calendar  was  formed  on  the  same  plan.  Their 
religion,  their  architecture,  many  of  their  laws  and 
social  usages,  were  the  same,  arguing  a  common  origin 
for  all.  Their  tutelary  deity  was  the  same  ferocious 
war-god  as  that  of  the  Aztecs,  though  with  a  different 
name ;  their  temples,  in  like  manner,  were  drenched 
with  the  blood  of  human  victims,  and  their  boards 
groaned  with  the  same  cannibal  repasts.8 

Though  not  ambitious  of  foreign  conquest,  the  pros 
perity  of  the  Tlascalans,  in  time,  excited  the  jealousy 
of  their  neighbors,  and  especially  of  the  opulent  state 
of  Cholula.  Frequent  hostilities  rose  between  them, 
in  which  the  advantage  was  almost  always  on  the  side 
of  the  former.  A  still  more  formidable  foe  appeared 
in  later  days  in  the  Aztecs,  who  could  ill  brook  the 
independence  of  Tlascala  when  the  surrounding  nations 
had  acknowledged,  one  after  another,  their  influence  or 
their  empire.  Under  the  ambitious  Axayacatl,  they 
demanded  of  the  Tlascalans  the  same  .tribute  and 
obedience  rendered  by  other  people  of  the  country. 
If  it  were  refused,  the  Aztecs  would  raze  their  cities 
to  their  foundations,  and  deliver  the  land  to  their 
enemies. 

To  this  imperious  summons,  the  little  republic 
proudly  replied,  "Neither  they  nor  their  ancestors 

8  A  full  account  of  the  manners,  customs,  and  domestic  policy  of 
Tlascala  is  given  by  the  national  historian,  throwing  much  light  on 
the  other  states  of  Anahuac,  whose  social  institutions  seem  to  have 
been  all  cast  in  the  same  mould. 


EARLY  HISTORY.  409 

had  ever  paid  tribute  or  homage  to  a  foreign  power, 
and  never  would  pay  it.  If  their  country  was  invaded, 
they  knew  how  to  defend  it,  and  would  pour  out  their 
blood  as  freely  in  defence  of  their  freedom  now  as 
their  fathers  did  of  yore,  when  they  routed  the  Aztecs 
on  the  plains  of  Poyauhtlan  !"  9 

This  resolute  answer  brought  on  them  the  forces 
of  the  monarchy.  A  pitched  battle  followed,  and  the 
sturdy  republicans  were  victorious.  From  this  period, 
hostilities  between  the  two  nations  continued  with  more 
or  less  activity,  but  with  unsparing  ferocity.  Every 
captive  was  mercilessly  sacrificed.  The  children  were 
trained  from  the  cradle  to  deadly  hatred  against  the 
Mexicans  ;  and,  even  in  the  brief  intervals  of  war, 
none  of  those  intermarriages  took  place  between  the 
people  of  the  respective  countries,  which  knit  together 
in  social  bonds  most  of  the  other  kindred  races  of 
Anahuac. 

In  this  struggle  the  Tlascalans  received  an  important 
support  in  the  accession  of  the  Othomis,  or  Otomies, — 
as  usually  spelt  by  Castilian  writers, — a  wild  and  war 
like  race  originally  spread  over  the  table-land  north  of 
the  Mexican  Valley.  A  portion  of  them  obtained  a 
settlement  in  the  republic,  and  were  speedily  incor 
porated  in  its  armies.  Their  courage  and  fidelity  to 
the  nation  of  their  adoption  showed  them  worthy  of 
trust,  and  the  frontier  places  were  consigned  to  their 
keeping.  The  mountain  barriers  by  which  Tlascala 
is  encompassed  afforded  many  strong  natural  positions 
for  defence  against  invasion.  The  country  was  open 

9  Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind., 
lib.  2,  cap.  70. 

VOL.  I. — s  35 


4io 


MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 


towards  the  east,  where  a  valley,  of  some  six  miles  in 
breadth,  invited  the  approach  of  an  enemy.  But  here 
it  was  that  the  jealous  Tlascalans  erected  the  formi 
dable  rampart  which  had  excited  the  admiration  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  which  they  manned  with  a  garrison 
of  Otomies. 

Efforts  for  their  subjugation  were  renewed  on  a 
greater  scale  after  the  accession  of  Montezuma.  His 
victorious  arms  had  spread  down  the  declivities  of  the 
Andes  to  the  distant  provinces  of  Vera  Paz  and  Nica 
ragua,10  and  his  haughty  spirit  was  chafed  by  the  oppo 
sition  of  a  petty  state  whose  territorial  extent  did  not 
exceed  ten  leagues  in  breadth  by  fifteen  in  length." 
He  sent  an  army  against  them  under  the  command  of 
a  favorite  son.  His  troops  were  beaten,  and  his  son 
was  slain.  The  enraged  and  mortified  monarch  was 
roused  to  still  greater  preparations.  He  enlisted  the 
forces  of  the  cities  bordering  on  his  enemy,  together 
with  those  of  the  empire,  and  with  this  formidable 
army  swept  over  the  devoted  valleys  of  Tlascala.  But 
the  bold  mountaineers  withdrew  into  the  recesses  of 
their  hills,  and,  coolly  awaiting  their  opportunity, 
rushed  like  a  torrent  on  the  invaders,  and  drove  them 
back,  with  dreadful  slaughter,  from  their  territories. 

Still,  notwithstanding  the  advantages  gained  over 
the  enemy  in  the  field,  the  Tlascalans  were  sorely 

10  Camargo  (Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.)  notices  the  extent  of  Monte- 
zuma's  conquests,— a  debatable  ground  for  the  historian. 

11  Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  3,  cap.  16. — Soils  says,  "The 
Tlascalan  territory  was  fifty  leagues  in  circumference,  ten  long,  from 
east  to  west,  and  four  broad,  from  north  to  south."     (Conquista  de 
Mejico,  lib.   3,   cap.  3.)       It  must  have  made  a  curious  figure  in 
geometry ! 


EARLY  HISTORY.  411 

pressed  by  their  long  hostilities  with  a  foe  so  far  supe 
rior  to  themselves  in  numbers  and  resources.  The 
Aztec  armies  lay  between  them  and  the  coast,  cutting 
off  all  communication  with  that  prolific  region,  and 
thus  limited  their  supplies  to  the  products  of  their  own 
soil  and  manufacture.  P^or  more  than  half  a  century 
they  had  neither  cotton,  nor  cacao,  nor  salt.  Indeed, 
their  taste  had  been  so  far  affected  by  long  abstinence 
from  these  articles  that  it  required  the  lapse  of  several 
generations  after  the  Conquest  to  reconcile  them  to  the 
use  of  salt  at  their  meals.12  During  the  short  intervals 
of  war,  it  is  said,  the  Aztec  nobles,  in  the  true  spirit 
of  chivalry,  sent  supplies  of  these  commodities  as  pres 
ents,  with  many  courteous  expressions  of  respect,  to 
the  Tlascalan  chiefs.  This  intercourse,  we  are  as 
sured  by  the  Indian  chronicler,  was  unsuspected  by  the 
people.  Nor  did  it  lead  to  any  further  correspondence, 
he  adds,  between  the  parties,  prejudicial  to  the  liberties 
of  the  republic,  "which  maintained  its  customs  and 
good  government  inviolate,  and  the  worship  of  its 
gods."1' 

Such  was  the  condition  of  Tlascala  at  the  coming 
of  the  Spaniards ;  holding,  it  might  seem,  a  precarious 
existence  under  the  shadow  of  the  formidable  power 

12  Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. 

'3  "  Los  Senores  Mejicanos  y  Tezcucanos  en  tiempo  que  ponian 
treguas  por  algunas  temporadas  embiaban  a  los  Senores  de  Tlaxcalla 
grandes  presentes  y  dadivas  de  oro,  ropa,  y  cacao,  y  sal,  y  de  todas 
las  cosas  de  que  carecian,  sin  que  la  gente  plebeya  lo  entendiese,  y  se 
saludaban  secretamente,  guardandose  el  decoro  que  se  debian  ;  mas 
con  todos  estos  trabajos  la  orden  de  su  republica  jamas  se  dejaba  de 
gobernar  con  la  rectitud  de  sus  costumbres  guardando  inviolablementc 
el  culto  de  sus  Dioses."  Ibid.,  MS. 


412 


MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 


which  seemed  suspended  like  an  avalanche  over  her 
head,  but  still  strong  in  her  own  resources,  stronger  in 
the  indomitable  temper  of  her  people ;  with  a  repu 
tation  established  throughout  the  land  for  good  faith 
and  moderation  in  peace,  for  valor  in  war,  while  her 
uncompromising  spirit  of  independence  secured  the 
respect  even  of  her  enemies.  With  such  qualities  of 
character,  and  with  an  animosity  sharpened  by  long, 
deadly  hostility  with  Mexico,  her  alliance  was  obviously 
of  the  last  importance  to  the  Spaniards,  in  their  pres 
ent  enterprise.  It  was  not  easy  to  secure  it.14 

The  Tlascalans  had  been  made  acquainted  with  the 
advance  and  victorious  career  of  the  Christians,  the 
intelligence  of  which  had  spread  far  and  wide  over  the 
plateau.  But  they  do  not  seem  to  have  anticipated  the 
approach  of  the  strangers  to  their  own  borders.  They 
were  now  much  embarrassed  by  the  embassy  demand 
ing  a  passage  through  their  territories.  The  great 
council  was  convened,  and  a  considerable  difference  of 
opinion  prevailed  in  its  members.  Some,  adopting  the 
popular  superstition,  supposed  the  Spaniards  might  be 
the  white  and  bearded  men  foretold  by  the  oracles.15 
At  all  events,  they  were  the  enemies  of  Mexico,  and  as 
such  might  co-operate  with  them  in  their  struggle  with 
the  empire.  Others  argued  that  the  strangers  could 
have  nothing  in  common  with  them.  Their  march 

T*  The  Tlascalan  chronicler  discerns  in  this  deep-rooted  hatred  of 
Mexico  the  hand  of  Providence,  who  wrought  out  of  it  an  important 
means  for  subverting  the  Aztec  empire.  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. 

xs  "Si  bien  os  acordais,  como  tenemos  de  nuestra  antiguedad  como 
han  de  venir  gentes  d  la  parte  donde  sale  el  sol,  y  que  han  de  empa- 
rentar  con  nosotros,  y  que  hemos  de  ser  todos  unos ;  y  que  han  de 
ser  blancos  y  barbudos."  Ibid.,  MS. 


DISCUSSIONS   IN    THE    SENATE.  413 

throughout  the  land  might  be  tracked  by  the  broken 
images  of  the  Indian  gods  and  desecrated  temples. 
How  did  the  Tlascalans  even  know  that  they  were  foes 
to  Montezuma  ?  They  had  received  his  embassies, 
accepted  his  presents,  and  were  now  in  the  company 
of  his  vassals  on  the  way  to  his  capital. 

These  last  were  the  reflections  of  an  aged  chief,  one 
of  the  four  who  presided  over  the  republic.  His  name 
was  Xicotencatl.  He  was  nearly  blind,  having  lived, 
as  is  said,  far  beyond  the  limits  of  a  century.16  His 
son,  an  impetuous  young  man  of  the  same  name  with 
himself,  commanded  a  powerful  army  of  Tlascalan  and 
Otomi  warriors,  near  the  eastern  frontier.  It  would 
be  best,  the  old  man  said,  to  fall  with  this  force  at 
once  on  the  Spaniards.  If  victorious,  the  latter  would 
then  be  in  their  power.  If  defeated,  the  senate  could 
disown  the  act  as  that  of  the  general,  not  of  the  re 
public.17  The  cunning  counsel  of  the  chief  found  favor 
with  his  hearers,  though  assuredly  not  in  the  spirit  of 
chivalry,  nor  of  the  good  faith  for  which  his  country 
men  were  celebrated.  But  with  an  Indian,  force  and 
stratagem,  courage  and  deceit,  were  equally  admissible 
in  war,  as  they  were  among  the  barbarians  of  ancient 

16  To  the  ripe  age  of  one  hundred  and  forty  !  if  we  may  credit  Ca- 
margo.  Solis,  who  confounds  this  veteran  with  his  son,  has  put  a 
flourishing  harangue  in  the  mouth  of  the  latter,  which  would  be  a 
rare  gem  of  Indian  eloquence, — were  it  not  Castilian.  Conquista, 
lib.  2,  cap.  16. 

»7  Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.— Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec. 
2,  lib.  6,  cap.  3. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  4,  cap.  27. — There 
is  sufficient  contradiction,  as  well  as  obscurity,  in  the  proceedings  re 
ported  of  the  council,  which  it  is  not  easy  to  reconcile  altogether  with 
subsequent  events. 

35* 


4I4  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

R.ome.18  The  Cempoallan  envoys  were  to  be  detained 
under  pretence  of  assisting  at  a  religious  sacrifice. 

Meanwhile,  Cortes  and  his  gallant  band,  as  stated  in 
the  preceding  chapter,  had  arrived  before  the  rocky 
rampart  on  the  eastern  confines  of  Tlascala.  From 
some  cause  or  other,  it  was  not  manned  by  its  Otomi 
garrison,  and  the  Spaniards  passed  in,  as  we  have  seen, 
without  resistance.  Cortes  rode  at  the  head  of  his  body 
of  horse,  and,  ordering  the  infantry  to  come  on  at  a 
quick  pace,  went  forward  to  reconnoitre.  After  ad 
vancing  three  or  four  leagues,  he  descried  a  small  party 
of  Indians,  armed  with  sword  and  buckler,  in  the 
fashion  of  the  country.  They  fled  at  his  approach. 
He  made  signs  for  them  to  halt,  but,  seeing  that  they 
only  fled  the  faster,  he  and  his  companions  put  spurs 
to  their  horses,  and  soon  came  up  with  them.  The 
Indians,  finding  escape  impossible,  faced  round,  and, 
instead  of  showing  the  accustomed  terror  of  the  natives 
at  the  strange  and  appalling  aspect  of  a  mounted  trooper, 
they  commenced  a  furious  assault  on  the  cavaliers.  The 
latter,  however,  were  too  strong  for  them,  and  would 
have  cut  their  enemy  to  pieces  without  much  difficulty, 
when  a  body  of  several  thousand  Indians  appeared  in 
sight,  coming  briskly  on  to  the  support  of  their  coun 
trymen. 

Cortes,  seeing  them,  despatched  one  of  his  party  in 
all  haste,  to  accelerate  the  march  of  his  infantry.  The 
Indians,  after  discharging  their  missiles,  fell  furiously 
on  the  little  band  of  Spaniards.  They  strove  to  tear 
the  lances  from  their  grasp,  and  to  drag  the  riders  from 
the  horses.  They  brought  one  cavalier  to  the  ground, 
18  " Dolus  an  virtus,  quis  in  hoste  requirat?" 


DESPERATE    BATTLES. 


415 


tvho  afterwards  died  of  his  wounds,  and  they  killed  two 
of  the  horses,  cutting  through  their  necks  with  their 
stout  broadswords — if  we  may  believe  the  chronicler 
— at  a  blow  ! I9  In  the  narrative  of  these  campaigns 
there  is  sometimes  but  one  step — and  that  a  short  one 
— from  history  to  romance.  The  loss  of  the  horses,  so 
important  and  so  few  in  number,  was  seriously  felt  by 
Cortes,  who  could  have  better  spared  the  life  of  the 
best  rider  in  the  troop. 

The  struggle  was  a  hard  one.  But  the  odds  were  as 
overwhelming  as  any  recorded  by  the  Spaniards  in  their 
own  romances,  where  a  handful  of  knights  is  arrayed 
against  legions  of  enemies.  The  lances  of  the  Chris 
tians  did  terrible  execution  here  also ;  but  they  had 
need  of  the  magic  lance  of  Astolpho,  that  overturned 
myriads  with  a  touch,  to  carry  them  safe  through  so 
unequal  a  contest.  -  It  was  with  no  little  satisfaction, 
therefore,  that  they  beheld  their  comrades  rapidly  ad 
vancing  to  their  support. 

No  sooner  had  the  main  body  reached  the  field  of 
battle,  than,  hastily  forming,  they  poured  such  a  volley 
from  their  muskets  and  cross-bows  as  staggered  the 
enemy.  Astounded,  rather  than  intimidated,  by  the 
terrible  report  of  the  fire-arms,  now  heard  for  the  first 
time  in  these  regions,  the  Indians  made  no  further 
effort  to  continue  the  fight,  but  drew  off  in  good  order, 
leaving  the  road  open  to  the  Spaniards.  The  latter, 
too  well  satisfied  to  be  rid  of  the  annoyance  to  care  to 
follow  the  retreating  foe,  again  held  on  their  way. 

'9  "  I  les  mataron  dos  caballos,  de  dos  cuchilladas,  i  segun  algunos, 
que  lo  vieron,  cortaron  d  cercen  de  un  golpe  cadapescue9O,  con  rien- 
das,  i  todas."  Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  45. 


4I6  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

Their  route  took  them  through  a  country  sprinkled 
over  with  Indian  cottages,  amidst  flourishing  fields  of 
maize  and  maguey,  indicating  an  industrious  and  thriv 
ing  peasantry.  They  were  met  here  by  two  Tlascalan 
envoys,  accompanied  by  two  of  the  Cempoallans.  The 
former,  presenting  themselves  before  the  general,  dis 
avowed  the  assault  on  his  troops,  as  an  unauthorized 
act,  and  assured  him  of  a  friendly  reception  at  their 
capital.  Cortes  received  the  communication  in  a  cour 
teous  manner,  affecting  to  place  more  confidence  in  its 
good  faith  than  he  probably  felt. 

It  was  now  growing  late,  and  the  Spaniards  quick 
ened  their  march,  anxious  to  reach  a  favorable  ground 
for  encampment  before  nightfall.  They  found  such  a 
spot  on  the  borders  of  a  stream  that  rolled  sluggishly 
across  the  plain.  A  few  deserted  cottages  stood  along 
the  banks,  and  the  fatigued  and  famished  soldiers  ran 
sacked  them  in  quest  of  food.  All  they  could  find  was 
some  tame  animals  resembling  dogs.  These  they  killed 
and  dressed  without  ceremony,  and,  garnishing  their 
unsavory  repast  with  the  fruit  of  the  tuna,  the  Indian 
fig,  which  grew  wild  in  the  neighborhood,  they  con 
trived  to  satisfy  the  cravings  of  appetite.  A  careful 
watch  was  maintained  by  Cortes,  and  companies  of  a 
hundred  men  each  relieved  each  other  in  mounting 
guard  through  the  night.  But  no  attack  was  made. 
Hostilities  by  night  were  contrary  to  the  system  of 
Indian  tactics.20 

20  Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  50. — Camargo,  Hist,  de 
Tlascala,  MS. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  62. — Gomara, 
Cronica,  cap.  45. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  3,41. 
— Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espana,  MS.,  lib.  12,  cap.  10. 


DESPERA  TE    BA  7  TZ  ES. 


417 


By  break  of  day  on  the  following  morning,  it  being 
the  second  of  September,  the  troops  were  under  arms. 
Besides  the  Spaniards,  the  whole  number  of  Indian 
auxiliaries  might  now  amount  to  three  thousand ;  for 
Cortes  had  gathered  recruits  from  the  friendly  places 
on  his  route, — three  hundred  from  the  last.  After 
hearing  mass,  they  resumed  their  march.  They  moved 
in  close  array  ;  the  general  had  previously  admonished 
the  men  not  to  lag  behind,  or  wander  from  the  ranks  a 
moment,  as  stragglers  would  be  sure  to  be  cut  off  by 
their  stealthy  and  vigilant  enemy.  The  horsemen  rode 
three  abreast,  the  better  to  give  one  another  support ; 
and  Cortes  instructed  them  in  the  heat  of  fight  to  keep 
together,  and  never  to  charge  singly.  He  taught  them 
how  to  carry  their  lances  that  they  might  not  be  wrested 
from  their  hands  by  the  Indians,  who  constantly  at 
tempted  it.  For  the  same  reason,  they  should  avoid 
giving  thrusts,  but  aim  their  weapons  steadily  at  the 
faces  of  their  foes.21 

They  had  not  proceeded  far,  when  they  were  met  by 
the  two  remaining  Cempoallan  envoys,  who  with  looks 
of  terror  informed  the  general  that  they  had  been 
treacherously  seized  and  confined,  in  order  to  be  sacri 
ficed  at  an  approaching  festival  of  the  Tlascalans,  but 
in  the  night  had  succeeded  in  making  their  escape. 
They  gave  the  unwelcome  tidings,  also,  that  a  large 
force  of  the  natives  was  already  assembled  to  oppose 
the  progress  of  the  Spaniards. 

Soon  after,  they  came  in  sight  of  a  body  of  Indians, 

21  "  Que  quando  rompiessemos  por  los  esquadrones,  que  lleuassen 
las  lar^as  por  las  caras,  y  no  parassen  a  dar  larxjadas,  porque  no  les 
echassen  mano  dellas."     Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  62. 
s* 


4l8  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

about  a  thousand,  apparently,  all  armed,  and  brandish 
ing  their  weapons,  as  the  Christians  approached,  in 
token  of  defiance.  Cortes,  when  he  had  come  within 
hearing,  ordered  the  interpreters  to  proclaim  that  he 
had  no  hostile  intentions,  but  wished  only  to  be  al 
lowed  a  passage  through  their  country,  which  he  had 
entered  as  a  friend.  This  declaration  he  commanded 
the  royal  notary,  Godoy,  to  record  on  the  spot,  that, 
if  blood  were  shed,  it  might  not  be  charged  on  the 
Spaniards.  This  pacific  proclamation  was  met,  as 
usual  on  such  occasions,  by  a  shower  of  darts,  stones, 
and  arrows,  which  fell  like  rain  on  the  Spaniards,  rat 
tling  on  their  stout  harness,  and  in  some  instances 
penetrating  to  the  skin.  Galled  by  the  smart  of  their 
wounds,  they  called  on  the  general  to  lead  them  on, 
till  he  sounded  the  well-known  battle-cry,  "St.  Jago, 
and  at  them  ! "  22 

The  Indians  maintained  their  ground  for  a  while 
with  spirit,  when  they  retreated  with  precipitation,  but 
not  in  disorder.23  The  Spaniards,  whose  blood  was 
heated  by  the  encounter,  followed  up  their  advantage 
with  more  zeal  than  prudence,  suffering  the  wily  enemy 
to  draw  them  into  a  narrow  glen  or  defile  intersected 
by  a  little  stream  of  water,  where  the  broken  ground 
was  impracticable  for  artillery,  as  well  as  for  the  move 
ments  of  cavalry.  Pressing  forward  with  eagerness, 
to  extricate  themselves  from  their  perilous  position, 
to  their  great  dismay,  on  turning  an  abrupt  angle  of 

22  "  Entonces  dixo  Cortes,  '  Santiago,  y  d  ellos.'  "     Bernal  Diaz, 
Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  63. 

23  "Una  gentil  contienda,"  says  Gomara  of  this  skirmish.     Cr6- 
nica,  cap.  46. 


DESPERATE    BATTLES.  419 

the  pass,  they  came  in  presence  of  a  numerous  army, 
choking  up  the  gorge  of  the  valley,  and  stretching 
far  over  the  plains  beyond.  To  the  astonished  eyes 
of  Cortes,  they  appeared  a  hundred  thousand  men, 
while  no  account  estimates  them  at  less  than  thirty 
thousand.24 

They  presented  a  confused  assemblage  of  helmets, 
weapons,  and  many-colored  plumes,  glancing  bright  in 
the  morning  sun,  and  mingling  with  banners,  above 
which  proudly  floated  one  that  bore  as  a  device  the 
heron  on  a  rock.  It  was  the  well-known  ensign  of  the 
house  of  Titcala,  and,  as  well  as  the  white  and  yellow 
stripes  on  the  bodies  and  the  like  colors  on  the  feather- 
mail  of  the  Indians,  showed  that  they  were  the  warriors 
of  Xicotencatl.25 

As  the  Spaniards  came  in  sight,  the  Tlascalans  set 
up  a  hideous  war-cry,  or  rather  whistle,  piercing  the 
ear  with  its  shrillness,  and  which,  with  the  beat  of  their 

2*  Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  51.  According  to  Go- 
mara  (Cronica,  cap.  46),  the  enemy  mustered  80,000.  So,  also,  Ixtlil- 
xochitl.  (Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83.)  Bernal  Diaz  says,  more  than 
40,000.  (Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  63.)  But  Herrera  (Hist,  general, 
dec.  2,  lib.  6,  cap.  5)  and  Torquemada  (Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  4,  cap.  20) 
reduce  them  to  30,000.  One  might  as  easily  reckon  the  leaves  in  a 
forest,  as  the  numbers  of  a  confused  throng  of  barbarians.  As  this 
was  only  one  of  several  armies  kept  on  foot  by  the  Tlascalans,  the 
smallest  amount  is,  probably,  too  large.  The  whole  population  of  the 
state,  according  to  Clavigero,  who  would  not  be  likely  to  underrate  it, 
did  not  exceed  half  a  million  at  the  time  of  the  invasion.  Stor.  del 
Messico,  torn.  i.  p.  156. 

25  "  La  divisa  y  armas  de  la  casa  y  cabecera  de  Titcala  es  una  garga 
blanca  sobre  un  penasco."  (Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.)  "  El 
capitan  general,"  says  Bernal  Diaz,  "  qiie  se  dezia  Xicotenga,  y  con 
sus  diuisas  de  bianco  y  Colorado,  porque  aquella  diuisa  y  librea  era 
de  aquel  Xicotenga."  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  63. 


420 


MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 


melancholy  drums,  that  could  be  heard  for  half  a  league 
or  more,26  might  well  have  filled  the  stoutest  heart  with 
dismay.  This  formidable  host  came  rolling  on  towards 
the  Christians,  as  if  to  overwhelm  them  by  their  very 
numbers.  But  the  courageous  band  of  warriors,  closely 
serried  together  and  sheltered  under  their  strong  pano 
plies,  received  the  shock  unshaken,  while  the  broken 
masses  of  the  enemy,  chafing  and  heaving  tumultuously 
around  them,  seemed  to  recede  only  to  return  with 
new  and  accumulated  force. 

Cortes,  as  usual,  in  the  front  of  danger,  in  vain  en 
deavored,  at  the  head  of  the  horse,  to  open  a  passage 
for  the  infantry.  Still  his  men,  both  cavalry  and  foot, 
kept  their  array  unbroken,  offering  no  assailable  point 
to  their  foe.  A  body  of  the  Tlascalans,  however,  act 
ing  in  concert,  assaulted  a  soldier  named  Moran,  one 
of  the  best  riders  in  the  troop.  They  succeeded  in 
dragging  him  from  his  horse,  which  they  despatched 
with  a  thousand  blows.  The  Spaniards,  on  foot,  made 
a  desperate  effort  to  rescue  their  comrade  from  the 
hands  of  the  enemy, — and  from  the  horrible  doom  of 
the  captive.  A  fierce  struggle  now  began  over  the 
body  of  the  prostrate  horse.  Ten  of  the  Spaniards 
were  wounded,  when  they  succeeded  in  retrieving  the 
unfortunate  cavalier  from  his  assailants,  but  in  so  dis 
astrous  a  plight  that  he  died  on  the  following  day. 

26  "  Llaman  Tepo-naztle  ques  de  un  trozo  de  madero  concavado  y 
de  una  pieza  rollizo  y,  como  decimos,  hueco  por  de  dentro,  que  suena 
algunas  veces  mas  de  media  legua  y  con  el  atambor  hace  estraiia  y 
suave  consonancia."  (Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.)  Clavigero, 
who  gives  a  drawing  of  this  same  drum,  says  it  is  still  used  by  the 
Indians,  and  may  be  heard  two  or  three  miles.  Stor.  del  Messico, 
torn.  ii.  p.  179. 


DESPERATE    BATTLES.  421 

The  horse  was  borne  off  in  triumph  by  the  Indians, 
and  his  mangled  remains  were  sent,  a  strange  trophy, 
to  the  different  towns  of  Tlascala.  The  circumstance 
troubled  the  Spanish  commander,  as  it  divested  the 
animal  of  the  supernatural  terrors  with  which  the 
superstition  of  the  natives  had  usually  surrounded  it. 
To  prevent  such  a  consequence,  he  had  caused  the  two 
horses,  killed  on  the  preceding  day,  to  be  secretly 
buried  on  the  spot. 

The  enemy  now  began  to  give  ground  gradually, 
borne  down  by  the  riders,  and  trampled  under  the 
hoofs  of  their  horses.  Through  the  whole  of  this 
sharp  encounter  the  Indian  allies  were  of  great  service 
to  the  Spaniards.  They  rushed  into  the  water,  and 
grappled  their  enemies,  with  the  desperation  of  men 
who  felt  that  "  their  only  safety  was  in  the  despair  of 
safety."  ^  "I  see  nothing  but  death  for  us,"  exclaimed 
a  Cempoallan  chief  to  Marina;  "we  shall  never  get 
through  the  pass  alive."  "The  God  of  the  Christians 
is  with  us,"  answered  the  intrepid  woman;  "and  He 
will  carry  us  safely  through. ' ' 28 

Amidst  the  din  of  battle,  the  voice  of  Cortes  was 
heard,  cheering  on  his  soldiers.  "If  we  fail  now," 
he  cried,  "the  Cross  of  Christ  can  never  be  planted 
in  the  land.  Forward,  comrades  !  When  was  it  ever 
known  that  a  Castilian  turned  his  back  on  a  foe  ?' '  ** 

=7  "  Una  illis  fuit  spes  salutis,  desperasse  de  salute."  (P.  Martyr, 
De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  i,  cap.  i.)  It  is  said  with  the  classic  energy  of 
Tacitus. 

28  "  Respondiole  Marina,  que  no  tuviese  miedo,  porque  el  Dios  de 
los  Christianos,  que  es  muy  poderoso,  i  los  queria  mucho,  los  sacaria 
de  peligro."     Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  6,  cap.  5. 

29  Ibid.,  ubi  supra. 

VOL.  I.  36 


422 


MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 


Animated  by  the  words  and  heroic  bearing  of  their 
general,  the  soldiers,  with  desperate  efforts,  at  length 
succeeded  in  forcing  a  passage  through  the  dark  col 
umns  of  the  enemy,  and  emerged  from  the  defile  on 
the  open  plains  beyond. 

Here  they  quickly  recovered  their  confidence  with 
their  superiority.  The  horse  soon  opened  a  space  for 
the  manoeuvres  of  the  artillery.  The  close  files  of 
their  antagonists  presented  a  sure  mark ;  and  the  thun 
ders  of  the  ordnance  vomiting  forth  torrents  of  fire 
and  sulphurous  smoke,  the  wide  desolation  caused  in 
their  ranks,  and  the  strangely  mangled  carcasses  of 
the  slain,  filled  the  barbarians  with  consternation  and 
horror.  They  had  no  weapons  to  cope  with  these 
terrible  engines,  and  their  clumsy  missiles,  discharged 
from  uncertain  hands,  seemed  to  fall  ineffectual  on  the 
charmed  heads  of  the  Christians.  What  added  to 
their  embarrassment  was,  the  desire  to  carry  off  the 
dead  and  wounded  from  the  field,  a  general  practice 
among  the  people  of  Anahuac,  but  one  which  neces 
sarily  exposed  them,  while  thus  employed,  to  still 
greater  loss. 

Eight  of  their  principal  chiefs  had  now  fallen,  and 
Xicotencatl,  finding  himself  wholly  unable  to  make 
head  against  the  Spaniards  in  the  open  field,  ordered 
a  retreat.  Far  from  the  confusion  of  a  panic-struck 
mob,  so  common  among  barbarians,  the  Tlascalan 
force  moved  off  the  ground  with  all  the  order  of  a 
well-disciplined  army.  Cortes,  as  on  the  preceding 
day,  was  too  well  satisfied  with  his  present  advantage 
to  desire  to  follow  it  up.  It  was  within  an  hour  of 
sunset,  and  he  was  anxious  before  nightfall  to  secure  a 


DESPERATE    BATTLES.  423 

good  position,  where  he  might  refresh  his  wounded 
troops  and  bivouac  for  the  night.30 

Gathering  up  his  wounded,  he  held  on  his  way, 
without  loss  of  time,  and  before  dusk  reached  a  rocky 
eminence,  called  Tzompachtepetl,  or  "  the  hill  of  Tzom- 
pach."  It  was  crowned  by  a  sort  of  tower  or  temple, 
the  remains  of  which  are  still  visible.31  His  first  care 
was  given  to  the  wounded,  both  men  and  horses.  For 
tunately,  an  abundance  of  provisions  was  found  in  some 
neighboring  cottages ;  and  the  soldiers,  at  least  all  who 
were  not  disabled  by  their  injuries,  celebrated  the  vic 
tory  of  the  day  with  feasting  and  rejoicing. 

As  to  the  number  of  killed  or  wounded  on  either 
side,  it  is  matter  of  loosest  conjecture.  The  Indians 
must  have  suffered  severely,  but  the  practice  of  carrying 
off  the  dead  from  the  field  made  it  impossible  to  know 
to  what  extent.  The  injury  sustained  by  the  Span 
iards  appears  to  have  been  principally  in  the  number 
of  their  wounded.  The  great  object  of  the  natives 
of  Anahuac  in  their  battles  was  to  make  prisoners, 
who  might  grace  their  triumphs  and  supply  victims 
for  sacrifice.  To  this  brutal  superstition  the  Christians 
were  indebted,  in  no  slight  degree,  for  their  personal 
preservation.  To  take  the  reports  of  the  Conquerors, 
their  own  losses  in  action  were  always  inconsiderable. 
But  whoever  has  had  occasion  to  consult  the  ancient 
chroniclers  of  Spain  in  relation  to  its  wars  with  the 

31  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  3,  45. — Ixtlilxochitl, 
Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83. — Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p. 
51. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  63. — Gomara,  Cronica, 
cap.  40. 

31  Viaje  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  ix. 


424 


MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 


infidel,   whether  Arab  or  American,   will  place  little 
confidence  in  numbers.32 

The  events  of  the  day  had  suggested  many  topics 
for  painful  reflection  to  Cortes.  He  had  nowhere  met 
with  so  determined  a  resistance  within  the  borders  of 
Anahuac ;  nowhere  had  he  encountered  native  troops 
so  formidable  for  their  weapons,  their  discipline,  and 
their  valor.  Far  from  manifesting  the  superstitious 
terrors  felt  by  the  other  Indians  at  the  strange  arms 
and  aspect  of  the  Spaniards,  the  Tlascalans  had  boldly 
grappled  with  their  enemy,  and  only  yielded  to  the 
inevitable  superiority  of  his  military  science.  How 
important  would  the  alliance  of  such  a  nation  be  in  a 
struggle  with  those  of  their  own  race, — for  example, 
with  the  Aztecs !  But  how  was  he  to  secure  this 
alliance?  Hitherto,  all  overtures  had  been  rejected 
with  disdain ;  and  it  seemed  probable  that  every  step 
of  his  progress  in  this  populous  land  was  to  be  fiercely 
contested.  His  army,  especially  the  Indians,  cele 
brated  the  events  of  the  day  with  feasting  and  dancing, 
songs  of  merriment,  and  shouts  of  triumph.  Cortes 
encouraged  it,  well  knowing  how  important  it  was  to 
keep  up  the  spirits  of  his  soldiers.  But  the  sounds  of 

32  According  to  Cortes,  not  a  Spaniard  fell — though  many  were 
wounded — in  this  action  so  fatal  to  the  infidel !  Diaz  allows  one.  In 
the  famous  battle  of  Xavas  de  Tolosa,  between  the  Spaniards  and 
Arabs,  in  1212,  equally  matched  m  military  science  at  that  time,  there 
were  left  200,000  of  the  latter  on  the  field  ;  and,  to  balance  this  bloody 
roll,  only  five-and-twenty  Christians !  See  the  estimate  in  Alfonso 
IX. 's  veracious  letter,  ap.  Mariana  (Hist,  de  Espana,  lib.  2,  cap.  24.) 
The  official  returns  of  the  old  Castilian  crusaders,  whether  in  the  Old 
World  or  the  New,  are  scarcely  more  trustworthy  than  a  French 
imperial  bulletin  in  our  day. 


DESPERATE    BATTLES.  425 

revelry  at  length  died  away ;  and,  in  the  still  watches 
of  the  night,  many  an  anxious  thought  must  have 
crowded  on  the  mind  of  the  general,  while  his  little 
army  lay  buried  in  slumber  in  its  encampment  around 
the  Indian  hill. 


CHAPTER   III. 

DECISIVE  VICTORY.  —  INDIAN  COUNCIL.  -  NIGHT-ATTACK. 
—NEGOTIATIONS  WITH  THE  ENEMY.  -  TLASCALAN 
HERO. 


THE  Spaniards  were  allowed  to  repose  undisturbed 
the  following  day,  and  to  recruit  their  strength  after 
the  fatigue  and  hard  fighting  of  the  preceding.  They 
found  sufficient  employment,  however,  in  repairing 
and  cleaning  their  weapons,  replenishing  their  dimin 
ished  stock  of  arrows,  and  getting  everything  in  order 
for  further  hostilities,  should  the  severe  lesson  they  had 
inflicted  on  the  enemy  prove  insufficient  to  discourage 
him.  On  the  second  day,  as  Cortes  received  no  over 
tures  from  the  Tlascalans,  he  determined  to  send  an 
embassy  to  their  camp,  proposing  a  cessation  of  hos 
tilities,  and  expressing  his  intention  to  visit  their  cap 
ital  as  a  friend.  He  selected  two  of  the  principal 
chiefs  taken  in  the  late  engagement,  as  the  bearers  of 
the  message. 

Meanwhile,  averse  to  leaving  his  men  longer  in  a 
dangerous  state  of  inaction,  which  the  enemy  might 
interpret  as  the  result  of  timidity  or  exhaustion,  he 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  cavalry  and  such  light 
troops  as  were  most  fit  for  service,  and  made  a  foray 
into  the  neighboring  country.  It  was  a  mountainous 
region,  formed  by  a  ramification  of  the  great  sierra  of 
(426) 


DECISIVE    VICTORY.  427 

Tlascala,  with  verdant  slopes  and  valleys  teeming  with 
maize  and  plantations  of  maguey,  while  the  eminences 
were  crowned  with  populous  towns  and  villages.  In 
one  of  these,  he  tells  us,  he  found  three  thousand 
dwellings.1  In  some  places  he  met  with  a  resolute 
resistance,  and  on  these  occasions  took  ample  ven 
geance  by  laying  the  country  waste  with  fire  and  sword. 
After  a  successful  inroad  he  returned  laden  with  forage 
and  provisions  and  driving  before  him  several  hundred 
Indian  captives.  He  treated  them  kindly,  however, 
when  arrived  in  camp,  endeavoring  to  make  them  un 
derstand  that  these  acts  of  violence  were  not  dictated 
by  his  own  wishes,  but  by  the  unfriendly  policy  of 
their,  countrymen.  In  this  way  he  hoped  to  impress 
the  nation  with  the  conviction  of  his  power  on  the 
one  hand,  and  of  his  amicable  intentions,  if  met  by 
them  in  the  like  spirit,  on  the  other. 

On  reaching  his  quarters,  he  found  the  two  envoys 
returned  from  the  Tlascalan  camp.  They  had  fallen 
in  with  Xicotencatl  at  about  two  leagues'  distance, 
where  he  lay  encamped  with  a  powerful  force.  The 
cacique  gave  them  audience  at  the  head  of  his  troops. 
He  told  them  to  return  with  the  answer,  "that  the 
Spaniards  might  pass  on  as  soon  as  they  chose  to  Tlas 
cala  ;  and,  when  they  reached  it,  their  flesh  would  be 
hewn  from  their  bodies,  for  sacrifice  to  the  gods  !  If 

1  Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  52. — Oviedo,  who  made 
free  use  of  the  manuscripts  of  Cortes,  writes  thirty-nine  houses. 
(Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  3.)  This  may  perhaps  be  ex 
plained  by  the  sign  for  a  thousand,  in  Spanish  notation,  bearing  great 
resemblance  to  the  figure  9.  Martyr,  who  had  access,  also,  to  the 
Conqueror's  manuscript,  confirms  the  larger  and,  a  priori,  less  prob 
able  number. 


428  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

they  preferred  to  remain  in  their  own  quarters,  he 
would  pay  them  a  visit  there  the  next  day."2  The 
ambassadors  added  that  the  chief  had  an  immense 
force  with  him,  consisting  of  five  battalions  of  ten 
thousand  men  each.  They  were  the  flower  of  the 
Tlascalan  and  Otomi  warriors,  assembled  under  the 
banners  of  their  respective  leaders,  by  command  of  the 
senate,  who  were  resolved  to  try  the  fortunes  of  the 
state  in  a  pitched  battle  and  strike  one  decisive  blow 
for  the  extermination  of  the  invaders.3 

This  bold  defiance  fell  heavily  on  the  ears  of  the 
Spaniards,  not  prepared  for  so  pertinacious  a  spirit  in 
their  enemy.  They  had  had  ample  proof  of  his  cour 
age  and  formidable  prowess.  They  were  now,  in^their 
crippled  condition,  to  encounter  him  with  a  still  more 
terrible  array  of  numbers.  The  war,  too,  from  the 
horrible  fate  with  which  it  menaced  the  vanquished, 
wore  a  peculiarly  gloomy  aspect,  that  pressed  heavily 
on  their  spirits.  "We  feared  death,"  says  the  lion- 
hearted  Diaz,  with  his  usual  simplicity,  "  for  we  were 
men."  There  was  scarcely  one  in  the  army  that  did 
not  confess  himself  that  night  to  the  reverend  Father 
Olmedo,  who  was  occupied  nearly  the  whole  of  it  with 

2  "  Que  fuessemos  &  su  pueblo  adonde  estd  su  padre,  q  alld  harian 
las  pazes  co  hartarse  de  nuestras  carnes,  y  honrar  sus  dioses  con  nues- 
tros  cora9ones,  y  sangre,  e  que  para  otro  dia  de  mafiana  veriamos  su 
respuesta."     Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  64. 

3  More  than  one  writer  repeats  a  story  of  the  Tlascalan  general's 
sending  a  good  supply  of  provisions,  at  this  time,  to  the  famished  army 
of  the  Spaniards  ;  to  put  them  in  stomach,  it  may  be,  for  the  fight. 
(Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  46.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83.) 
This  ultra-chivalrous  display  from  the  barbarian  is  not  very  probable, 
and  Cortes'  own  account  of  his  successful  foray  may  much  better 
explain  the  abundance  which  reigned  in  his  camp. 


DECISIVE    VICTORY.  429 

administering  absolution,  and  with  the  other  solemn 
offices  of  the  Church.  Armed  with  the  blessed  sacra 
ments,  the  Catholic  soldier  lay  tranquilly  down  to  rest, 
prepared  for  any  fate  that  might  betide  him  under  the 
banner  of  the  Cross.4 

As  a  battle  was  now  inevitable,  Cortes  resolved  to 
march  out  and  meet  the  enemy  in  the  field.  This 
would  have  a  show  of  confidence  that  might  serve 
the  double  purpose  of  intimidating  the  Tlascalans  and 
inspiriting  his  own  men,  whose  enthusiasm  might  lose 
somewhat  of  its  heat  if  compelled  to  await  the  assault 
of  their  antagonists,  inactive  in  their  own  intrench- 
ments.  The  sun  rose  bright  on  the  following  morning, 
the  fifth  of  September,  1519,  an  eventful  day  in  the 
history  of  the  Spanish  Conquest.  The  general  re 
viewed  his  army,  and  gave  them,  preparatory  to  march 
ing,  a  few  words  of -encouragement  and  advice.  The 
infantry  he  instructed  to  rely  on  the  point  rather  than 
the  edge  of  their  swords,  and  to  endeavor  to  thrust 
their  opponents  through  the  body.  The  horsemen 
were  to  charge  at  half  speed,  with  their  lances  aimed 
at  the  eyes  of  the  Indians.  The  artillery,  the  arque- 
busiers,  and  crossbowmen  were  to  support  one  another, 
some  loading  while  others  discharged  their  pieces,  that 
there  should  be  an  unintermitted  firing  kept  up  through 
the  action.  Above  all,  they  were  to  maintain  their 
ranks  close  and  unbroken,  as  on  this  depended  their 
preservation. 

4  Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  52. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist. 
Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83. — Gomara,  Cronica.  cap.  46,  47. — Oviedo,  Hist, 
de  las  lad.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  3. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista 
cap.  64. 


430  MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

They  had  not  advanced  a  quarter  of  a  league,  when 
they  came  in  sight  of  the  Tlascalan  army.  Its  dense 
array  stretched  far  and  wide  over  a  vast  plain  or 
meadow-ground  about  six  miles  square.  Its  appear 
ance  justified  the  report  which  had  been  given  of  its 
numbers.5  Nothing  could  be  more  picturesque  than 
the  aspect  of  these  Indian  battalions,  with  the  naked 
bodies  of  the  common  soldiers  gaudily  painted,  the 
fantastic  helmets  of  the  chiefs  glittering  with  gold  and 
precious  stones,  and  the  glowing  panoplies  of  feather- 
work  which  decorated  their  persons.6  Innumerable 
spears  and  darts,  tipped  with  points  of  transparent  itztli 
or  fiery  copper,  sparkled  bright  in  the  morning  sun, 
like  the  phosphoric  gleams  playing  on  the  surface  of 
a  troubled  sea,  while  the  rear  of  the  mighty  host  was 
dark  with  the  shadows  of  banners,  on  which  were 
emblazoned  the  armorial  bearings  of  the  great  Tlas- 

s  Through  the  magnifying  lens  of  Cortes,  there  appeared  to  be 
150,000  men  (Rel.  Seg.,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  52)  ;  a  number  usually 
preferred  by  succeeding  writers. 

6  "  Not  half  so  gorgeous,  for  their  May-day  mirth 
All  wreathed  and  ribanded,  our  youths  and  maids. 
As  these  stern  Tlascalans  in  war  attire  ! 
The  golden  glitterance,  and  the  feather-mail 
More  gay  than  glittering  gold  ;  and  round  the  helm 
A  coronal  of  high  upstanding  plumes, 
Green  as  the  spring  grass  in  a  sunny  shower ; 
Or  scarlet  bright,  as  in  the  wintry  wood 
The  clustered  holly  ;  or  of  purple  tint ; 
Whereto  shall  that  be  likened?  to  what  gem 
Indiademed,  what  flower,  what  insect's  wing? 
With  war-songs  and  wild  music  they  came  on  ; 
We,  the  while  kneeling,  raised  with  one  accord 
The  hymn  of  supplication." 

SOUTHEY'S  Madoc,  Part  i,  canto  7. 


DECISIVE    VICTORY.  431 

calan  and  Otomi  chieftains.7  Among  these,  the  white 
heron  on  the  rock,  the  cognizance  of  the  house  of 
Xicotencatl,  was  conspicuous,  and,  still  more,  the 
golden  eagle  with  outspread  wings,  in  the  fashion  of  a 
Roman  stgnum,  richly  ornamented  with  emeralds  and 
silver-work,  the  great  standard  of  the  republic  of 
TIascala.8 

The  common  file  wore  no  covering  except  a  girdle 
round  the  loins.  Their  bodies  were  painted  with  the 
appropriate  colors  of  the  chieftain  whose  banner  they 
followed.  The  feather-mail  of  the  higher  class  of  war 
riors  exhibited,  also,  a  similar  selection  of  colors  for 
the  like  object,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  color  of  the 
tartan  indicates  the  peculiar  clan  of  the  Highlander.9 

7  The  standards  of  the  Mexicans  were  carried  in  the  centre,  those 
of  the  Tlascalans  in  the  rear  of  the  army.      (Clavigero,  Stor.  del 
Messico,  vol.  ii.  p.  145.)    'According  to  the  Anonymous  Conqueror, 
the  banner-staff  was  attached  to  the  back  of  the  ensign,  so  that  it  was 
impossible  to  be  torn  away.    "  Ha  ogni  copagnia  il  suo  Alfiere  con  la 
sua  insegna  inhastata,  et  in  tal  modo  ligata  sopra  le  spalle,  che  non 
gli  da  alcun  disturbo  di  poter  combattere  ne  far  cio  che  vuole,  et  la 
porta  cosi  ligata  bene  al  corpo,  che  se  no  fanno  del  suo  corpo  pezzi, 
non  se  gli  puo  sligare,  ne  torgliela  mai."     Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo, 
ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  305. 

8  Camargo,  Hist,  de  TIascala,  MS. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2, 
lib.  6,  cap.  6. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  46.— Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la 
Conquista,  cap.  64. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap,  45. 
— The  last  two  authors  speak  of  the  device  of  "  a  white  bird  like 
an  ostrich,"  as  that  of  the  republic.     They  have  evidently  confounded 
it  with   that  of  the   Indian  general.     Camargo,  who  has  given  the 
heraldic  emblems  of  the  four  great  families  of  TIascala,  notices  the 
white  heron  as  that  of  Xicotencatl. 

9  The  accounts  of  the  Tlascalan  chronicler  are  confirmed  by  the 
Anonymous   Conqueror   and   by   Bernal    Diaz,  both    eyewitnesses ; 
though  the  latter  frankly  declares  that  had  he  not  seen  them  with  his 
own  eyes  he  should  never  have  credited  the  existence  of  orders  and 


432  iM ARC II    TO    MEXICO. 

The  caciques  and  principal  warriors  were  clothed  in 
quilted  cotton  tunics,  two  inches  thick,  which,  fitting 
close  to  the  body,  protected  also  the  thighs  and  the 
shoulders.  Over  these  the  wealthier  Indians  wore  cui 
rasses  of  thin  gold  plate,  or  silver.  Their  legs  were 
defended  by  leathern  boots  or  sandals,  trimmed  with 
gold.  But  the  most  brilliant  part  of  their  costume  was 
a  rich  mantle  of  the  plumaje  or  feather-work,  em 
broidered  with  curious  art,  and  furnishing  some  resem 
blance  to  the  gorgeous  surcoat  worn  by  the  European 
knight  over  his  armor  in  the  Middle  Ages.  This 
graceful  and  picturesque  dress  was  surmounted  by  a 
fantastic  head-piece  made  of  wood  or  leather,  repre 
senting  the  head  of  some  wild  animal,  and  frequently 
displaying  a  formidable  array  of  teeth.  With  this  cov 
ering  the  warrior's  head  was  enveloped,  producing  a 
most  grotesque  and  hideous  effect.10  From  the  crown 
floated  a  splendid  panache  of  the  richly  variegated 
plumage  of  the  tropics,  indicating,  by  its  form  and 
colors,  the  rank  and  family  of  the  wearer.  To  com 
plete  their  defensive  armor,  they  carried  shields  or 
targets,  made  sometimes  of  wood  covered  with  leather, 
but  more  usually  of  a  light  frame  of  reeds  quilted  with 
cotton,  which  were  preferred,  as  tougher  and  less  liable 

badges  among  the  barbarians,  like  those  found  among  the  civilized 
nations  of  Europe.  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  64,  et  alibi. — Camargo, 
Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn, 
iii.  fol.  305. 

10  "  Portano  in  testa,"  says  the  Anonymous  Conqueror,  "  per  difesa 
una  cosa  come  teste  di  serpeti,  6  di  tigri,  o  di  leoni,  6  di  lupi,  che  ha 
le  mascelle,  et  e  la  testa  dell'  huomo  messa  nella  testa  di  qsto  animale 
come  se  lo  volesse  diuorare  :  sono  di  legno,  et  sopra  vi  e  la  pena,  et  di 
piastra  d'oro  et  di  pietre  preciose  copte,  che  e  cosa  marauigliosa  da 
vedere."  Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  305. 


DECISIVE    VICTOR  Y. 


433 


to  fracture  than  the  former.  They  had  other  bucklers, 
in  which  the  cotton  was  covered  with  an  elastic  sub 
stance,  enabling  them  to  be  shut  up  in  a  more  com 
pact  form,  like  a  fan  or  umbrella.  These  shields  were 
decorated  with  showy  ornaments,  according  to  the 
taste  or  wealth  of  the  wearer,  and  fringed  with  a 
beautiful  pendant  of  feather-work. 

Their  weapons  were  slings,  bows  and  arrows,  jave 
lins,  and  darts.  They  were  accomplished  archers, 
and  would  discharge  two  or  even  three  arrows  at  a 
time.  But  they  most  excelled  in  throwing  the  javelin. 
One  species  of  this,  with  a  thong  attached  to  it,  which 
remained  in  the  slinger's  hand,  that  he  might  recall 
the  weapon,  was  especially  dreaded  by  the  Spaniards. 
These  various  weapons  were  pointed  with  bone,  or  the 
mineral  itztli  (obsidian),  the  hard  vitreous  substance 
already  noticed  as  capable  of  taking  an  edge  like  a 
razor,  though  easily  blunted.  Their  spears  and  arrows 
were  also  frequently  headed  with  copper.  Instead  of 
a  sword,  they  bore  a  two-handed  staff,  about  three  feet 
and  a  half  long,  in  which,  at  regular  distances,  were 
inserted,  transversely,  sharp  blades  of  itztli, — a  formi 
dable  weapon,  which,  an  eyewitness  assures  us,  he  had 
seen  fell  a  horse  at  a  blow.11 

Such  was  the  costume  of  the  Tlascalan  warrior,  and, 
indeed,  of  that  great  family  of  nations  generally  who 
occupied  the  plateau  of  Anahuac.  Some  parts  of  it,  as 

11  "  I  saw  one  day  an  Indian  make  a  thrust  at  the  horse  of  a  cava 
lier  with  whom  he  was  fighting,  which  pierced  its  breast,  and  pene 
trated  so  deep  that  it  immediately  fell  dead ;  and  the  same  day  I  saw 
another  Indian  cut  the  neck  of  a  horse,  which  fell  dead  at  his  feet." 
Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap..Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  305. 
VOL.  I. — T  37 


434  MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

the  targets  and  the  cotton  mail,  or  eseaupil,  as  it  was 
called  in  Castilian,  were  so  excellent  that  they  were 
subsequently  adopted  by  the  Spaniards,  as  equally 
effectual  in  the  way  of  protection,  and  superior  on  the 
score  of  lightness  and  convenience  to  their  own.  They 
were  of  sufficient  strength  to  turn  an  arrow  or  the  stroke 
of  a  javelin,  although  impotent  as  a  defence  against 
fire-arms.  But  what  armor  is  not  ?  Yet  it  is  probably 
no  exaggeration  to  say  that,  in  convenience,  graceful 
ness,  and  strength,  the  arms  of  the  Indian  warrior  were 
not  very  inferior  to  those  of  the  polished  nations  of 
antiquity.12 

As  soon  as  the  Castilians  carne  in  sight,  the  Tlas- 
calans  set  up  their  yell  of  defiance,  rising  high  above 
the  wild  barbaric  minstrelsy  of  shell,  atabal,  and  trum 
pet,  with  which  they  proclaimed  their  triumphant  an 
ticipations  of  victory  over  the  paltry  forces  of  the 
invaders.  When  the  latter  had  come  within  bowshot, 
the  Indians  hurled  a  tempest  of  missiles,  that  darkened 
the  sun  for  a  moment  as  with  a  passing  cloud,  strewing 
the  earth  around  with  heaps  of  stones  and  arrows.13 
Slowly  and  steadily  the  little  band  of  Spaniards  held 
on  its  way  amidst  this  arrowy  shower,  until  it  had 
reached  what  appeared  the  proper  distance  for  deliver 
ing  its  fire  with  full  effect.  Cortes  then  halted,  and, 

"  Particular  notices  of  the  military  dress  and  appointments  of  the 
American  tribes  on  the  plateau  may  be  found  in  Camargo.  Hist,  de 
Tlascala,  MS., — Clavigero,  Stor.  del  Messico,  torn.  ii.  p.  101,  et  seq., 
— Acosta,  lib.  6,  cap.  26, — Rel.  d'un  gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn, 
iii.  fol.  305,  et  auct.  ai. 

'3  "  Que  granizo  de  piedra  de  los  honderos !  Pues  flechas  todo  el 
suelo  hecho  parva  de  varas  todas  de  a  dos  gajos,  que  passan  qual- 
quiera  arma,  y  las  entranas  adonde  no  ay  defensa."  Bernal  Diaz, 
Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  65. 


DECISIVE    VICTORY.  435 

hastily  forming  his  troops,  opened  a  general  well- 
directed  fire  along  the  whole  line.  Every  shot  bore 
its  errand  of  death  ;  and  the  ranks  of  the  Indians  were 
mowed  down  faster  than  their  comrades  in  the  rear 
could  carry  off  their  bodies,  according  to  custom,  from 
the  field.  The  balls  in  their  passage  through  the 
crowded  files,  bearing  splinters  of  the  broken  harness 
and  mangled  limbs  of  the  warriors,  scattered  havoc  and 
desolation  in  their  path.  The  mob  of  barbarians  stood 
petrified  with  dismay,  till  at  length,  galled  to  despera 
tion  by  their  intolerable  suffering,  they  poured  forth 
simultaneously  their  hideous  war-shriek  and  rushed  im 
petuously  on  the  Christians. 

On  they  came  like  an  avalanche,  or  mountain  tor 
rent,  shaking  the  solid  earth  and  sweeping  away  every 
obstacle  in  its  path.  The  little  army  of  Spaniards  op 
posed  a  bold  front  to  the  overwhelming  mass.  But  no 
strength  could  withstand  it.  They  faltered,  gave  way, 
were  borne  along  before  it,  and  their  ranks  were  broken 
and  thrown  into  disorder.  It  was  in  vain  the  general 
called  on  them  to  close  again  and  rally.  His  voice  was 
drowned  by  the  din  of  fight  and  the  fierce  cries  of  the 
assailants.  For  a  moment,  it  seemed  that  all  was  lost. 
The  tide  of  battle  had  turned  against  them,  and  the 
fate  of  the  Christians  was  sealed. 

But  every  man  had  that  within  his  bosom  which 
spoke  louder  than  the  voice  of  the  general.  Despair 
gave  unnatural  energy  to  his  arm.  The  naked  body  of 
the  Indian  afforded  no  resistance  to  the  sharp  Toledo 
steel ;  and  with  their  good  swords  the  Spanish  infantry 
at  length  succeeded  in  staying  the  human  torrent.  The 
heavy  guns  from  a  distance  thundered  on  the  flank 


436  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

of  the  assailants,  which,  shaken  by  the  iron  tempest, 
was  thrown  into  disorder.  Their  very  numbers  in 
creased  the  confusion,  as  they  were  precipitated  on  the 
masses  in  front.  The  horse  at  the  same  moment, 
charging  gallantly  under  Cortes,  followed  up  the  ad 
vantage,  and  at  length  compelled  the  tumultuous  throng 
to  fall  back  with  greater  precipitation  and  disorder  than 
that  with  which  they  had  advanced. 

More  than  once  in  the  course  of  the  action  a  simi 
lar  assault  was  attempted  by  the  Tlascalans,  but  each 
time  with  less  spirit  and  greater  loss.  They  were  too 
deficient  in  military  science  to  profit  by  their  vast 
superiority  in  numbers.  They  were  distributed  into 
companies,  it  is  true,  each  serving  under  its  own  chief 
tain  and  banner.  But  they  were  not  arranged  by  rank 
and  file,  and  moved  in  a  confused  mass,  promiscuously 
heaped  together.  They  knew  not  how  to  concentrate 
numbers  on  a  given  point,  or  even  how  to  sustain  an 
assault,  by  employing  successive  detachments  to  sup 
port  and  relieve  one  another.  A  very  small  part  only 
of  their  array  could  be  brought  into  contact  with  an 
enemy  inferior  to  them  in  amount  of  forces.  The 
remainder  of  the  army,  inactive  and  worse  than  use 
less,  in  the  rear,  served  only  to  press  tumultuously  on 
the  advance  and  embarrass  its  movements  by  mere 
weight  of  numbers,  while  on  the  least  alarm  they  were 
seized  with  a  panic  and  threw  the  whole  body  into 
inextricable  confusion.  It  was,  in  short,  the  combat 
of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Persians  over  again. 

Still,  the  great  numerical  superiority  of  the  Indians 
might  have  enabled  them,  at  a  severe  cost  of  their  own 
lives,  indeed,  to  wear  out,  in  time,  the  constancy  of 


DECISIVE    VICTORY. 


437 


the  Spaniards,  disabled  by  wounds  and  incessant  fatigue. 
But,  fortunately  for  the  latter,  dissensions  arose  among 
their  enemies.  A  Tlascalan  chieftain,  commanding 
one  of  the  great  divisions,  had  taken  umbrage  at  the 
haughty  demeanor  ol  Xicotencatl,  who  had  charged 
him  with  misconduct  or  cowardice  in  the  late  action. 
The  injured  cacique  challenged  his  rival  to  single  com 
bat.  This  did  not  take  place.  But,  burning  with 
resentment,  he  chose  the  present  occasion  to  indulge 
it,  by  drawing  off  his  forces,  amounting  to  ten  thou 
sand  men,  from  the  field.  He  also  persuaded  another 
of  the  commanders  to  follow  his  example. 

Thus  reduced  to  about  half  his  original  strength,  and 
that  greatly  crippled  by  the  losses  of  the  day,  Xicoten 
catl  could  no  longer  maintain  his  ground  against  the 
Spaniards.  After  disputing  the  field  with  admirable 
courage  for  four  Hours,  he  retreated  and  resigned  it  to 
the  enemy.  The  Spaniards  were  too  much  jaded,  and 
too  many  were  disabled  by  wounds,  to  allow  them  to 
pursue ;  and  Cortes,  satisfied  with  the  decisive  victory 
he  had  gained,  returned  in  triumph  to  his  position  on 
the  hill  of  Tzompach. 

The  number  of  killed  in  his  own  ranks  had  been  very 
small,  notwithstanding  the  severe  loss  inflicted  on  the 
enemy.  These  few  he  was  careful  to  bury  where  they 
could  not  be  discovered,  anxious  to  conceal  not  only  the 
amount  of  the  slain,  but  the  fact  that  the  whites  were 
mortal.14  But  very  many  of  the  men  were  wounded, 

J4  So  says  Bernal  Diaz ;  who  at  the  same  time,  by  the  epithets  Io3 
muertos,  los  cnerpos,  plainly  contradicts  his  previous  boast  that  only 
one  Christian  fell  in  the  fight.     (Hist,   de  la  Conquista,  cap.  65.) 
Cortes  has  not  the  grace  to  acknowledge  that  one. 
37* 


438 


MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 


and  all  the  horses.  The  trouble  of  the  Spaniards 
was  much  enhanced  by  the  want  of  many  articles  im 
portant  to  them  in  their  present  exigency.  They  had 
neither  oil  nor  salt,  which,  as  before  noticed,  was  riot 
to  be  obtained  in  Tlascala.  Their  clothing,  accom 
modated  to  a  softer  climate,  was  ill  adapted  to  the 
rude  air  of  the  mountains ;  and  bows  and  arrows, 
as  Bernal  Diaz  sarcastically  remarks,  formed  an  in 
different  protection  against  the  inclemency  of  the 
weather.15 

Still,  they  had  much  to  cheer  them  in  the  events  of 
the  day ;  and  they  might  draw  from  them  a  reasonable 
ground  for  confidence  in  their  own  resources,  such  as 
no  other  experience  could  have  supplied.  Not  that  the 
results  could  authorize  anything  like  contempt  for  their 
Indian  foe.  Singly  and  with  the  same  weapons,  he 
might  have  stood  his  ground  against  the  Spaniard.16 
But  the  success  of  the  day  established  the  superiority 

'5  Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  3.— Rel.  Seg.  de  Cor 
tes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  52. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  6,  cap. 
6. — Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap. 
46. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  4,  cap.  32. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist, 
de  la  Conquista,  cap.  65,  66. — The  warm,  chivalrous  glow  of  feeling 
which  colors  the  rude  composition  of  the  last  chronicler  makes  him  a 
better  painter  than  his  more  correct  and  classical  rivals.  And,  if  there 
is  somewhat  too  much  of  the  self-complacent  tone  of  the  quorum  pars 
magnafui  in  his  writing,  it  may  be  pardoned  in  the  hero  of  more  than 
a  hundred  battles  and  almost  as  many  wounds. 

16  The  Anonymous  Conqueror  bears  emphatic  testimony  to  the  valor 
of  the  Indians,  specifying  instances  in  which  he  had  seen  a  single  war 
rior  defend  himself  for  a  long  time  against  two,  three,  and  even  four 
Spaniards  !  "  Sono  fra  loro  di  valetissimi  huomini  et  che  ossano  morir 
ostinatissimamete.  Et  io  ho  veduto  un  d'  essi  difendersi  valetemente 
da  duoi  caualli  leggieri,  et  un  altro  da  tre,  et  quattro."  ReL  d'ua 
gentil'  huomo,  ap.  Ramusio,  torn.  iii.  fol.  305. 


DECISIVE    VICTORY. 


439 


of  science  and  discipline  over  mere  physical  courage 
and  numbers.  It  was  fighting  over  again,  as  we  have 
said,  the  old  battle  of  the  European  and  the  Asiatic. 
But  the  handful  of  Greeks  who  routed  the  hosts  of 
Xerxes  and  Darius,  it  must  be  remembered,  had  not  so 
obvious  an  advantage  on  the  score  of  weapons  as  was 
enjoyed  by  the  Spaniards  in  these  wars.  The  use  of 
fire-arms  gave  an  ascendency  which  cannot  easily  be 
estimated  ;  one  so  great,  that  a  contest  between  nations 
equally  civilized,  which  should  be  similar  in  all  other 
respects  to  that  between  the  Spaniards  and  the  Tlas- 
calans,  would  probably  be  attended  with  a  similar  issue. 
To  all  this  must  be  added  the  effect  produced  by  the 
cavalry.  The  nations  of  Anahuac  had  no  large  domes 
ticated  animals,  and  were  unacquainted  with  any  beast 
of  burden.  Their  imaginations  were  bewildered  when 
they  beheld  the  strange  apparition  of  the  horse  and  his 
rider  moving  in  unison  and  obedient  to  one  impulse, 
as  if  possessed  of  a  common  nature ;  and  as  they  saw 
the  terrible  animal,  writh  his  "neck  clothed  in  thun 
der,"  bearing  down  their  squadrons  and  trampling 
them  in  the  dust,  no  wonder  they  should  have  regarded 
him  wTith  the  mysterious  terror  felt  for  a  supernatural 
being.  A  very  little  reflection  on  the  manifold  grounds 
of  superiority,  both  moral  and  physical,  possessed  by 
the  Spaniards  in  this  contest,  will  surely  explain  the 
issue,  without  any  disparagement  to  the  courage  or 
capacity  of  their  opponents.17 

T7  The  appalling  effect  of  the  cavalry  on  the  natives  reminds  one  of 
the  confusion  into  which  the  Roman  legions  were  thrown  by  the 
strange  appearance  of  the  elephants  in  their  first  engagements  with 
Pyrrhus,  as  told  by  Plutarch  in  his  life  of  that  prince. 


440  MARCH    TO    MEXICO, 

Cortes,  thinking  the  occasion  favorable,  followed  up 
the  important  blow  he  had  struck  by  a  new  mission  to 
the  capital,  bearing  a  message  of  similar  import  with 
that  recently  sent  to  the  camp.  But  the  senate  was  not 
yet  sufficiently  humbled.  The  late  defeat  caused,  in 
deed,  general  consternation.  Maxixcatzin,  one  of  the 
four  great  lords  who  presided  over  the  republic,  re 
iterated  with  greater  force  the  arguments  before  urged 
by  him  for  embracing  the  proffered  alliance  of  the 
strangers.  The  armies  of  the  state  had  been  beaten 
too  often  to  allow  any  reasonable  hope  of  successful  re 
sistance  ;  and  he  enlarged  on  the  generosity  shown  by 
the  politic  Conqueror  to  his  prisoners — so  unusual  in 
Anahuac — as  an  additional  motive  for  an  alliance  with 
men  who  knew  how  to  be  friends  as  well  as  foes. 

But  in  these  views  he  was  overruled  by  the  war-party, 
whose  animosity  was  sharpened,  rather  than  subdued, 
by  the  late  discomfiture.  Their  hostile  feelings  were 
further  exasperated  by  the  younger  Xicotencatl,  who 
burned  for  an  opportunity  to  retrieve  his  disgrace,  and 
to  wipe  away  the  stain  which  had  fallen  for  the  first 
time  on  the  arms  of  the  republic. 

In  their  perplexity  they  called  in  the  assistance  of 
the  priests,  whose  authority  was  frequently  invoked  in 
the  deliberations  of  the  American  chiefs.  The  latter 
inquired,  with  some  simplicity,  of  these  interpreters 
of  fate,  whether  the  strangers  were  supernatural  beings, 
or  men  of  flesh  and  blood  like  themselves.  The  priests, 
after  some  consultation,  are  said  to  have  made  the 
strange  answer  that  the  Spaniards,  though  not  gods, 
were  children  of  the  Sun,  that  they  derived  their 
strength  from  that  luminary,  and  when  his  beams  were 


NIGHT- A  TTA  CK.  44 1 

withdrawn  their  powers  would  also  fail.  They  recom 
mended  a  night-attack,  therefore,  as  one  which  afforded 
the  best  chance  of  success.  This  apparently  childish 
response  may  have  had  in  it  more  of  cunning  than 
credulity.  It  was  not  improbably  suggested  by  Xico- 
tencatl  himself,  or  by  the  caciques  in  his  interest,  to 
reconcile  the  people  to  a  measure  which  was  contrary 
to  the  military  usages — indeed,  it  may  be  said,  to  the 
public  law — of  Anahuac.  Whether  the  fruit  of  artifice 
or  superstition,  it  prevailed ;  and  the  Tlascalan  general 
was  empowered,  at  the  head  of  a  detachment  of  ten 
thousand  warriors,  to  try  the  effect  of  an  assault  by 
night  on  the  Christian  camp. 

The  affair  was  conducted  with  such  secrecy  that  it 
did  not  reach  the  ears  of  the  Spaniards.  But  their 
general  was  not  one  who  allowed  himself,  sleeping 
or  waking,  to  be  surprised  on  his  post.  Fortunately, 
the  night  appointed  was  illumined  by  the  full  beams 
of  an  autumnal  moon ;  and  one  of  the  vedettes  per 
ceived  by  its  light,  at  a  considerable  distance,  a  large 
body  of  Indians  moving  towards  the  Christian  lines. 
He  was  not  slow  in  giving  the  alarm  to  the  gar 
rison  . 

The  Spaniards  slept,  as  has  been  said,  with  their 
arms  by  their  side ;  while  their  horses,  picketed  near 
them,  stood  ready  saddled,  with  the  bridle  hanging  at 
the  bow.  In  five  minutes  the  whole  camp  was  under 
arms ;  when  they  beheld  the  dusky  columns  of  the 
Indians  cautiously  advancing  over  the  plain,  their  heads 
just  peering  above  the  tall  maize  with  which  the  land 
was  partially  covered.  Cortes  determined  not  to  abide 
the  assault  in  his  intrenchments,  but  to  sally  out  and 
T* 


442  MARCH   TO    MEXICO, 

pounce  on  the  enemy  when  he  had  reached  the  bottom 
of  the  hill. 

Slowly  and  stealthily  the  Indians  advanced,  while  the 
Christian  camp,  hushed  in  profound  silence,  seemed 
to  them  buried  in  slumber.  But  no  sooner  had  they 
reached  the  slope  of  the  rising  ground  than  they  were 
astounded  by  the  deep  battle-cry  of  the  Spaniards, 
followed  by  the  instantaneous  apparition  of  the  whole 
army,  as  they  sallied  forth  from  the  works  and  poured 
down  the  sides  of  the  hill.  Brandishing  aloft  their 
weapons,  they  seemed  to  the  troubled  fancies  of  the 
Tlascalans  like  so  many  spectres  or  demons  hurrying 
to  and  fro  in  mid  air,  while  the  uncertain  light  mag 
nified  their  numbers  and  expanded  the  horse  and  his 
rider  into  gigantic  and  unearthly  dimensions. 

Scarcely  awaiting  the  shock  of  their  enemy,  the  panic- 
struck  barbarians  let  off  a  feeble  volley  of  arrows,  and, 
offering  no  other  resistance,  fled  rapidly  and  tumultu- 
ously  across  the  plain.  The  horse  easily  overtook  the 
fugitives,  riding  them  down  and  cutting  them  to  pieces 
without  mercy,  until  Cortes,  weary  with  slaughter,  called 
off  his  men,  leaving  the  field  loaded  with  the  bloody 
trophies  of  victory.18 

The  next  day,  the  Spanish  commander,  with  his 
usual  policy  after  a  decisive  blow  had  been  struck,  sent 
a  new  embassy  to  the  Tlascalan  capital.  The  envoys 
received  their  instructions  through  the  interpreter, 
Marina.  That  remarkable  woman  had  attracted  gen- 

18  Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  pp.  53,  54. — Oviedo,  Hist. 
de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  3.— P.  Martyr,  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  2, 
cap.  2. — Torquemada,  Monarch.  Ind.,  lib.  4,  cap.  32. — Herrera,  Hist, 
general,  dec.  2,  lib.  6,  cap.  8. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  66. 


NEGOTIATIONS   WITH    THE    ENEMY.         443 

eral  admiration  by  the  constancy  and  cheerfulness  with 
which  she  endured  all  the  privations  of  the  camp.  Far 
from  betraying  the  natural  weakness  and  timidity  of 
her  sex,  she  had  shrunk  from  no  hardship  herself,  and 
had  done  much  to  fortify  the  drooping  spirits  of  the 
soldiers ;  while  her  sympathies,  whenever  occasion 
offered,  had  been  actively  exerted  in  mitigating  the 
calamities  of  her  Indian  countrymen.19 

Through  his  faithful  interpreter,  Cortes  commni- 
cated  the  terms  of  his  message  to  the  Tlascalan  envoys. 
He  made  the  same  professions  of  amity  as  before, 
promising  oblivion  of  all  past  injuries ;  but,  if  this 
proffer  were  rejected,  he  would  visit  their  capital  as  a 
conqueror,  raze  every  house  in  it  to  the  ground,  and 
put  every  inhabitant  to  the  sword  !  He  then  dismissed 
the  ambassadors  with  the  symbolical  presents  of  a  letter 
in  one  hand  and  an  arrow  in  the  other. 

The  envoys  obtained  respectful  audience  from  the 
council  of  Tlascala,  whom  they  found  plunged  in  deep 
dejection  by  their  recent  reverses.  The  failure  of  the 
night-attack  had  extinguished  every  spark  of  hope  in 
their  bosoms.  Their  armies  had  been  beaten  again 
and  again,  in  the  open  field  and  in  secret  ambush. 
Stratagem  and  courage,  all  their  resources,  had  alike 
proved  ineffectual  against  a  foe  whose  hand  was  never 
weary  and  whose  eye  was  never  closed.  Nothing  re 
mained  but  to  submit.  They  selected  four  principal 
caciques,  whom  they  intrusted  with  a  mission  to  the 

'9  "  Though  she  heard  them  every  day  talk  of  killing  us  and  eating 
our  flesh,  though  she  had  seen  us  surrounded  in  past  battles,  and  knew 
that  we  were  now  all  of  us  wounded  and  suffering,  yet  we  never  saw 
any  weakness  in  her,  but  a  courage  far  beyond  that  of  woman." 
Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  66. 


444  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

Christian  camp.  They  were  to  assure  the  strangers 
of  a  free  passage  through  the  country,  and  a  friendly 
reception  in  the  capital.  The  proffered  friendship  of 
the  Spaniards  was  cordially  embraced,  with  many  awk 
ward  excuses  for  the  past.  The  envoys  were  to  touch 
at  the  Tlascalan  camp  on  their  way,  and  inform  Xico- 
tencatl  of  their  proceedings.  They  were  to  require 
him,  at  the  same  time,  to  abstain  from  all  further 
hostilities  and  to  furnish  the  white  men  with  an  ample 
supply  of  provisions. 

But  the  Tlascalan  deputies,  on  arriving  at  the  quar 
ters  of  that  chief,  did  not  find  him  in  the  humor 
to  comply  with  these  instructions.  His  repeated  col 
lisions  with  the  Spaniards,  or,  it  may  be,  his  consti 
tutional  courage,  left  him  inaccessible  to  the  vulgar 
terrors  of  his  countrymen.  He  regarded  the  strangers 
not  as  supernatural  beings,  but  as  men  like  himself. 
The  animosity  of  a  warrior  had  rankled  into  a  deadly 
hatred  from  the  mortifications  he  had  endured  at  their 
hands,  and  his  head  teemed  with  plans  for  recovering 
his  fallen  honors  and  for  taking  vengeance  on  the 
invaders  of  his  country.  He  refused  to  disband  any 
of  the  force,  still  formidable,  under  his  command,  or 
to  send  supplies  to  the  enemy's  camp.  He  further 
induced  the  ambassadors  to  remain  in  his  quarters  and 
relinquish  their  visit  to  the  Spaniards.  The  latter,  in 
consequence,  were  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  move 
ments  in  their  favor  which  had  taken  place  in  the 
Tlascalan  capital.90 

The  conduct  of  Xicotencatl  is  condemned  by  Cas- 

30  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  67.— Camargo,  Hist,  de 
Tlascala,  MS.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83. 


NEGOTIATIONS   WITH    THE    ENEMY. 


445 


tilian  writers  as  that  of  a  ferocious  and  sanguinary 
barbarian.  It  is  natural  they  should  so  regard  it.  But 
those  who  have  no  national  prejudice  to  warp  their 
judgments  may  come  to  a  different  conclusion.  They 
may  find  much  to  admire  in  that  high,  unconquerable 
spirit,  like  some  proud  column  standing  alone  in  its 
majesty  amidst  the  fragments  and  ruins  around  it. 
They  may  see  evidences  of  a  clear-sighted  sagacity, 
which,  piercing  the  thin  veil  of  insidious  friendship 
proffered  by  the  Spaniards,  and  penetrating  the  future, 
discerned  the  coming  miseries  of  his  country ;  the 
noble  patriotism  of  one  who  would  rescue  that  coun 
try  at  any  cost,  and,  amidst  the  gathering  darkness, 
would  infuse  his  own  intrepid  spirit  into  the  hearts 
of  his  nation,  to  animate  them  to  a  Jatfc  struggle  for 
independence. 


VOL.  I. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

DISCONTENTS  IN  THE  ARMY.  -  TLASCALAN  SPIES.  -  PEACE 
WITH    THE  REPUBLIC.  -  EMBASSY  FROM  MONTEZUMA. 


DESIROUS  to  keep  up  the  terror  of  the  Castilian  name 
by  leaving  the  enemy  no  respite,  Cortes,  on  the  same 
day  that  he  despatched  the  embassy  to  Tlascala,  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  small  corps  of  cavalry  and 
light  troops  to  scour  the  neighboring  country.  He 
was  at  that  time  so  ill  from  fever,  aided  by  medical 
treatment,1  that  he  could  hardly  keep  his  seat  in  the 
saddle.  It  was  a  rough  country,  and  the  sharp  winds 
from  the  frosty  summits  of  the  mountains  pierced  the 
scanty  covering  of  the  troops  and  chilled  both  men 
and  horses.  Four  or  five  of  the  animals  gave  out,  and 
the  general,  alarmed  for  their  safety,  sent  them  back  to 
the  camp.  The  soldiers,  discouraged  by  this  ill  omen, 
would  have  persuaded  him.  to  return.  But  he  made 
answer,  "We  fight  under  the  banner  of  the  Cross; 

1  The  effect  of  the  medicine  —  though  rather  a  severe  dose,  accord- 
ing  to  the  precise  Diaz  —  was  suspended  during  the  general's  active 
exertions.  Gomara,  however,  does  not  consider  this  a  miracle. 
(Cronica,  cap.  49.)  Father  Sandoval  does.  (Hist,  de  Carlos  Quinto, 
torn.  i.  p.  127.)  Soli's,  after  a  conscientious  inquiry  into  this  per 
plexing  matter,  decides  —  strange  as  it  may  seem  —  against  the  father  1 
Conquista,  lib.  2,  cap.  20. 
(446) 


DISCONTENTS    IN    THE    ARMY.  447 

God    is   stronger   than    nature,"2   and    continued    his 
march. 

It  led  through  the  same  kind  of  checkered  scenery 
of  rugged  hill  and  cultivated  plain  as  that  already 
described,  well  covered  with  towns  and  villages,  some 
of  them  the  frontier  posts  occupied  by  the  Otomies. 
Practising  the  Roman  maxim  of  lenity  to  the  submis 
sive  foe,  he  took  full  vengeance  on  those  who  resisted, 
and,  as  resistance  too  often  occurred,  marked  his  path 
with  fire  and  desolation.  After  a  short  absence,  he 
returned  in  safety,  laden  with  the  plunder  of  a  success 
ful  foray.  It  would  have  been  more  honorable  to  him 
had  it  been  conducted  with  less  rigor.  The  excesses 
are  imputed  by  Bernal  Diaz  to  the  Indian  allies,  whom 
in  the  heat  of  victory  it  was  found  impossible  to 
restrain.3  On  whose  head  soever  they  fall,  they  seem 
to  have  given  little  uneasiness  to  the  general,  who 
declares  in  his  letter  to  the  emperor  Charles  the  Fifth, 
"As  we  fought  under  the  standard  of  the  Cross,4  for 

2  "  Dios  es  sobre  natura."     Rel.  Seg.   de   Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana, 

P-  54- 

3  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  64. — Not  so  Cortes,  who  says,  boldly, 
"I  burned  more  than  ten  towns."     (Ibid.,  p.  52.)     His  reverend  com 
mentator  specifies  the  localities  of  the  Indian  towns  destroyed  by  him 
in  his  forays.     Viaje,  ap.  Lorenzana,  pp.  ix-xi. 

4  [Lorenzana  speaks  of  two  standards  as  borne  by  Cortes  in  the 
Conquest,  one  having  the  image  of  the  Virgin  emblazoned  on  it,  the 
other  that  of  the  Cross.      It  may  be  the  latter  which  is  still  preserved 
in   the   Museum   of  Artillery  at   Madrid.     (Rel.  Seg.  de   Cortes,  ap. 
Lorenzana,  p.  52,  nota.)      In  a  letter  written  to  me  from  that  capital, 
a  few  years  since,  by  my  friend   Mr.  George  Summer,  he   remarks, 
"  In  Madrid,  in  the  Museum  of  Artillery,  is  a  small  mahogany  box, 
about  a  foot  square,  locked  and  sealed,  which  contains,  as  the  inscrip 
tion  above  it  states,  the  petition  which   Hernan  Cortes  carried  to  the 
conquest  of  Mexico.     On  applying  to  the  Brigadier  Leon  de  Palacio, 


448  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

the  true  Faith,  and  the  service  of  your  Highness, 
Heaven  crowned  our  arms  with  such  success  that,  while 
multitudes  of  the  infidel  were  slain,  little  loss  was  suf 
fered  by  the  Castilians." 5  The  Spanish  Conquerors, 
to  judge  from  their  wri tings,  unconscious  of  any 
worldly  motive  lurking  in  the  bottom  of  their  hearts, 
regarded  themselves  as  soldiers  of  the  Church,  fighting 
the  great  battle  of  Christianity,  and  in  the  same  edify 
ing  and  comfortable  light  are  regarded  by  most  of  the 
national  historians  of  a  later  day.6 

On  his  return  to  the  camp,  Cortes  found  a  new  cause 
of  disquietude,  in  discontents  which  had  broken  out 
among  the  soldiery.  Their  patience  was  exhausted  by 
a  life  of  fatigue  and  peril  to  which  there  seemed  to  be 
no  end.  The  battles  they  had  won  against  such  tremen 
dous  odds  had  not  advanced  them  a  jot.  The  idea  of 
their  reaching  Mexico,  says  the  old  soldier  so  often 
quoted,  "was  treated  as  a  jest  by  the  whole  army;"7 

the  director  of  the  museum,  he  was  so  kind  as  not  only  to  order  this 
to  be  opened,  but  to  come  himself  with  me  to  examine  it.  The 
standard  is  probably  the  same  which  Lorenzana,  in  1770,  speaks  of 
as  being  then  in  the  Secretario  de  Gobierno.  It  is  of  red  Damascus 
silk,  and  has  marks  of  the  painting  once  upon  it,  but  is  now  com 
pletely  in  rags."] 

5  "  fc  como  trayamos  la  Bandera  de  la  Cruz,  y  punabamos  por 
nuestra  Fe,  y  por  servicio  de  Vuestra  Sacra  Magestad,  en  su  muy 
Real  ventura  nos  dio  Dios  tanta  victoria,  que  les  matamos  rnucha 
gente,  sin  que  los  nuestros  recibiessen  dano."     Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes, 
ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  52. 

6  "  It  was  a  notable  thing,"  exclaims  Herrera,  "  to  see  with  what 
humility  and  devotion  all  returned  praising  God,  who  gave  them  vic 
tories  so  miraculous,  by  which  it  was  clearly  apparent  that  they  were 
favored  with  the  divine  assistance." 

7  "  Porque  entrar  en  Mexico,  teniamoslo  por  cosa  de  risa,  ci  causa 
de  sus  grandes  fue^as."     Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquistu,  cap.  66. 


DISCONTENTS    IN    THE    ARMY.  449 

and  the  indefinite  prospect  of  hostilities  with  the  fero 
cious  people  among  whom  they  were  now  cast  threw  a 
deep  gloom  over  their  spirits. 

Among  the  malecon tents  were  a  number  of  noisy, 
vaporing  persons,  such  as  are  found  in  every  camp, 
who,  like  empty  bubbles,  are  sure  to  rise  to  the  surface 
and  make  themselves  seen  in  seasons  of  agitation.  They 
were,  for  the  most  part,  of  the  old  faction  of  Velas 
quez,  and  had  estates  in  Cuba,  to  which  they  turned 
many  a  wistful  glance  as  they  receded  more  and  more 
from  the  coast.  They  now  waited  on  the  general,  not 
in  a  mutinous  spirit  of  resistance  (for  they  remembered 
the  lesson  in  Villa  Rica),  but  with  the  design  of  frank 
expostulation,  as  with  a  brother  adventurer  in  a  com 
mon  cause.8  The  tone  of  familiarity  thus  assumed  was 
eminently  characteristic  of  the  footing  of  equality  on 
which  the  parties  in  the  expedition  stood  with  one 
another. 

Their  sufferings,  they  told  him,  were  too  great  to  be 
endured.  All  the  men  had  received  one,  most  of  them 
two  or  three  wounds.  More  than  fifty  had  perished, 
in  one  way  or  another,  since  leaving  Vera  Cruz.  There 
was  no  beast  of  burden  but  led  a  life  preferable  to 
theirs.  For,  when  the  night  came,  the  former  could 
rest  from  his  labors  ;  but  they,  fighting  or  watching, 
had  no  rest,  day  nor  night.  As  to  conquering  Mexico, 

8  Diaz  indignantly  disclaims  the  idea  of  mutiny,  which  Gomara 
attached  to  this  proceeding.  "  What  they  said  to  him  was  by  way  of 
counsel,  and  because  they  believed  it  were  well  said,  and  not  with  any 
other  intent,  since  they  followed  him  ever,  bravely  and  loyally  ;  nor 
is  it  strange  that  in  an  army  some  good  soldiers  should  offer  counsel 
to  their  captain,  especially  when  such  hardships  have  been  endured 
as  were  by  us."  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  71. 
38* 


450  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

the  very  thought  of  it  was  madness.  If  they  had  en 
countered  such  opposition  from  the  petty  republic  of 
Tlascala,  what  might  they  not  expect  from  the  great 
Mexican  empire  ?  There  was  now  a  temporary  suspen 
sion  of  hostilities.  They  should  avail  themselves  of  it 
to  retrace  their  steps  to  Vera  Cruz.  It  is  true,  the 
fleet  there  was  destroyed ;  and  by  this  act,  unparalleled 
for  rashness  even  in  Roman  annals,  the  general  had 
become  responsible  for  the  fate  of  the  whole  army. 
Still  there  was  one  vessel  left.  That  might  be  de 
spatched  to  Cuba  for  reinforcements  and  supplies ;  and, 
when  these  arrived,  they  would  be  enabled  to  resume 
operations  with  some  prospect  of  success. 

Cortes  listened  to  this  singular  expostulation  with 
perfect  composure.  He  knew  his  men,  and,  instead  of 
rebuke  or  harsher  measures,  replied  in  the  same  frank 
and  soldier-like  vein  which  they  had  affected. 

There  was  much  truth,  he  allowed,  in  what  they  said. 
The  sufferings  of  the  Spaniards  had  been  great  j  greater 
than  those  recorded  of  any  heroes  in  Greek  or  Roman 
story.  So  much  the  greater  would  be  their,  glory.  He 
had  often  been  filled  with  admiration  as  he  had  seen 
his  little  host  encircled  by  myriads  of  barbarians,  and 
felt  that  no  people  but  Spaniards  could  have  triumphed 
over  such  formidable  odds.  Nor  could  they,  unless  the 
arm  of  the  Almighty  had  been  over  them.  And  they 
might  reasonably  look  for  his  protection  hereafter ;  for 
was  it  not  in  his  cause  they  were  fighting?  They  had 
encountered  dangers  and  difficulties,  it  was  true.  But 
they  had  not  come  here  expecting  a  life  of  idle  dalli 
ance  and  pleasure.  Glory,  as  he  had  told  them  at  the 
outset,  was  to  be  won  only  by  toil  and  danger.  They 


DISCONTENTS   IN    THE    ARMY. 


451 


would  do  him  the  justice  to  acknowledge  that  he  had 
never  shrunk  from  his  share  of  both.  This  was  a  truth, 
adds  the  honest  chronicler  who  heard  and  reports  the 
dialogue,  which  no  one  could  deny.  But,  if  they  had 
met  with  hardships,  he  continued,  they  had  been  every 
where  victorious.  Even  now  they  were  enjoying  the 
fruits  of  this,  in  the  plenty  which  reigned  in  the  camp. 
And  they  would  soon  see  the  Tlascalans,  humbled  by 
their  late  reverses,  suing  for  peace  on  any  terms.  To 
go  back  now  was  impossible.  The  very  stones  would 
rise  up  against  them.  The  Tlascalans  would  hunt  them 
in  triumph  down  to  the  water's  edge.  And  how  would 
the  Mexicans  exult  at  this  miserable  issue  of  their  vain 
glorious  vaunts  !  Their  former  friends  would  become 
their  enemies  ;  and  the  Totonacs,  to  avert  the  ven 
geance  of  the  Aztecs,  from  which  the  Spaniards  could 
no  longer  shield  them,  would  join  in  the  general  cry. 
There  was  no  alternative,  then,  but  to  go  forward  in 
their  career.  And  he  besought  them  to  silence  their 
pusillanimous  scruples,  and,  instead  of  turning  their 
eyes  towards  Cuba,  to  fix  them  on  Mexico,  the  great 
object  of  their  enterprise. 

While  this  singular  conference  was  going  on,  many 
other  soldiers  had  gathered  round  the  spot ;  and  the 
discontented  party,  emboldened  by  the  presence  of 
their  comrades,  as  well  as  by  the  general's  forbearance, 
replied  that  they  were  far  from  being  convinced.  An 
other  such  victory  as  the  last  would  be  their  ruin.  They 
were  going  to  Mexico  only  to  be  slaughtered.  Until, 
at  length,  the  general's  patience  being  exhausted,  he 
cut  the  argument  short,  by  quoting  a  verse  from  an 
old  song,  implying  that  it  was  better  to  die  with  honor 


452  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

than  to  live  disgraced, — a  sentiment  which  was  loudly 
echoed  by  the  greater  part  of  his  audience,  who,  not 
withstanding  their  occasional  murmurs,  had  no  design 
to  abandon  the  expedition,  still  less  the  commander  to 
whom  they  were  passionately  devoted.  The  malecon- 
tents,  disconcerted  by  this  rebuke,  slunk  back  to  their 
own  quarters,  muttering  half-smothered  execrations  on 
the  leader  who  had  projected  the  enterprise,  the  Indians 
who  had  guided  him,  and  their  own  countrymen  who 
supported  him  in  it.9 

Such  were  the  difficulties  that  lay  in  the  path  of 
Cortes  :  a  wily  and  ferocious  enemy  ;  a  climate  uncer 
tain,  often  unhealthy ;  illness  in  his  own  person,  much 
aggravated  by  anxiety  as  to  the  manner  in  which  his 
conduct  would  be  received  by  his  sovereign ;  last,  not 
least,  disaffection  among  his  soldiers,  on  whose  con 
stancy  and  union  he  rested  for  the  success  of  his  opera 
tions, — the  great  lever  by  which  he  was  to  overturn  the 
empire  of  Montezuma. 

On  the  morning  following  this  event,  the  camp  was 
surprised  by  the  appearance  of  a  small  body  of  Tlas- 
calans,  decorated  with  badges,  the  white  color  of  which 
intimated  peace.  They  brought  a  quantity  of  pro 
visions,  and  some  trifling  ornaments,  which,  they  said, 
were  sent  by  the  Tlascalan  general,  who  was  weary  of 

9  This  conference  is  reported,  with  some  variety,  indeed,  by  nearly 
every  historian.  (Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  55. — Oviedo, 
Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  3. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  51,  52. 
— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  80.— Herrera,  Hist,  general, 
dec.  2,  lib.  6,  cap.  9. — P.  Martyr,  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap.  2.)  I 
have  abridged  the  account  given  by  Bernal  Diaz,  one  of  the  audience, 
though  not  one  of  the  parties  to  the  dialogue, — for  that  reason  the 
better  authority. 


TLASCALAN  SPIES. 


453 


the  war  and  desired  an  accommodation  with  the  Span 
iards.  He  would  soon  present  himself  to  arrange  this 
in  person.  The  intelligence  diffused  general  joy,  and 
the  emissaries  received  a  friendly  welcome. 

A  day  or  two  elapsed,  and,  while  a  few  of  the  party 
left  the  Spanish  quarters,  the  others,  about  fifty  in  num 
ber,  who  remained,  excited  some  distrust  in  the  bosom 
of  Marina.  She  communicated  her  suspicions  to  Cortes 
that  they  were  spies.  He  caused  several  of  them,  in 
consequence,  to  be  arrested,  examined  them  separately, 
and  ascertained  that  they  were  employed  by  Xicotencatl 
to  inform  him  of  the  state  of  the  Christian  camp,  pre 
paratory  to  a  meditated  assault,  for  which  he  was  mus 
tering  his  forces.  Cortes,  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  this, 
determined  to  make  such  an  example  of  the  delinquents 
as  should  intimidate  his  enemy  from  repeating  the 
attempt.  He  ordered  their  hands  to  be  cut  off,  and 
in  that  condition  sent  them  back  to  their  countrymen, 
with  the  message  "that  the  Tlascalans  might  come  by 
day  or  night ;  they  would  find  the  Spaniards  ready  for 
them."10 

The  doleful  spectacle  of  their  comrades  returning  in 
this  mutilated  state  filled  the  Indian  camp  with  horror 
and  consternation.  The  haughty  crest  of  their  chief 
was  humbled.  From  that  moment  he  lost  his  wonted 
buoyancy  and  confidence.  His  soldiers,  filled  with 
superstitious  fear,  refused  to  serve  longer  against  a  foe 

10  Diaz  says  only  seventeen  lost  their  hands,  the  rest  their  thumbs. 
(Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  70.)  Cortes  does  not  flinch  from  confess 
ing,  the  hands  of  the  whole  fifty  :  "  I  ordered  that  all  the.  fifty  should 
have  their  hands  cut  off;  and  I  sent  them  to  tell  their  lord  that  let 
nim  come  when  he  would,  by  night  or  day,  they  should  see  who  we 
were."  Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  53- 


454  MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

who  could  read  their  very  thoughts  and  divine  their 
plans  before  they  were  ripe  for  execution.11 

The  punishment  inflicted  by  Cortes  may  well  shock 
the  reader  by  its  brutality.  But  it  should  be  consid 
ered,  in  mitigation,  that  the  victims  of  it  were  spies, 
and,  as  such,  by  the  laws  of  war,  whether  among  civ 
ilized  or  savage  nations,  had  incurred  the  penalty  of 
death.  The  amputation  of  the  limbs  was  a  milder 
punishment,  and  reserved  for  inferior  offences.  If 
we  revolt  at  the  barbarous  nature  of  the  sentence,  we 
should  reflect  that  it  was  no  uncommon  one  at  that 
day  ;  not  more  uncommon,  indeed,  than  whipping  and 
branding  with  a  hot  iron  were  in  our  own  country  at 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  or  than  cropping 
the  ears  was  in  the  preceding  one.  A  higher  civili 
zation,  indeed,  rejects  such  punishments,  as  pernicious 
in  themselves,  and  degrading  to  humanity.  But  in  the 
sixteenth  century  they  were  openly  recognized  by  the 
laws  of  the  most  polished  nations  in  Europe.  And  it 
is  too  much  to  ask  of  any  man,  still  less  one  bred  to 
the  iron  trade  of  war,  to  be  in  advance  of  the  refine 
ment  of  his  age.  We  may  be  content  if,  in  circum 
stances  so  unfavorable  to  humanity,  he  does  not  fall 
below  it. 

All  thoughts  of  further  resistance  being  abandoned, 
the  four  delegates  of  the  Tlascalan  republic  were  now 
allowed  to  proceed  on  their  mission.  They  were 
speedily  followed  by  Xicotencatl  himself,  attended  by 
a  numerous  train  of  military  retainers.  As  they  drew 

11  "  De  que  los  Tlascaltecas  se  admirdron,  entendiendo  que  Cortes 
les  entendia  sus  pensamientos."  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap, 
83. 


PEACE    WITH    THE    REPUBLIC.  455 

near  the  Spanish  lines,  they  were  easily  recognized  by 
the  white  and  yellow  colors  of  their  uniforms,  the 
livery  of  the  house  of  Titcala.  The  joy  of  the  army 
was  great  at  this  sure  intimation  of  the  close  of  hostil 
ities  ;  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  Cortes  was  enabled 
to  restore  the  men  to  tranquillity  and  the  assumed  in 
difference  which  it  was  proper  to  maintain  in  presence 
of  an  enemy. 

The  Spaniards  gazed  with  curious  eye  on  the  valiant 
chief  who  had  so  long  kept  his  enemies  at  bay,  and 
who  now  advanced  with  the  firm  and  fearless  step  of 
one  who  was  coming  rather  to  bid  defiance  than  to 
sue  for  peace.  He  was  rather  above  the  middle  size, 
with  broad  shoulders,  and  a  muscular  frame  intimating 
great  activity  and  strength.  His  head  was  large,  and 
his  countenance  marked  with  the  lines  of  hard  service 
rather  than  of  age,  for  he  was  but  thirty-five.  When 
he  entered  the  presence  of  Cortes,  he  made  the  usual 
salutation  by  touching  the  ground  with  his  hand  and 
carrying  it  to  his  head ;  while  the  sweet  incense  of 
aromatic  gums  rolled  up  in  clouds  from  the  censers 
carried  by  his  slaves. 

Far  from  a  pusillanimous  attempt  to  throw  the  blame 
on  the  senate,  he  assumed  the  whole  responsibility  of 
the  war.  He  had  considered  the  white  men,  he  said, 
as  enemies,  for  they  came  with  the  allies  and  vassals 
of  Montezuma.  He  loved  his  country,  and  wished  to 
preserve  the  independence  which  she  had  maintained 
through  her  long  wars  with  the  Aztecs.  He  had  been 
beaten.  They  might  be  the  strangers  who,  it  had  been 
so  long  predicted,  would  come  from  the  east,  to  take 
possession  of  the  country.  He  hoped  they  would  use 


456  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

their  victory  with  moderation,  and  not  trample  on  the 
liberties  of  the  republic.  He  came  now  in  the  name 
of  his  nation,  to  tender  their  obedience  to  the  Span 
iards,  assuring  them  they  would  find  his  countrymen 
as  faithful  in  peace  as  they  had  been  firm  in  war. 

Cortes,  far  from  taking  umbrage,  was  filled  with 
admiration  at  the  lofty  spirit  which  thus  disdained  to 
stoop  beneath  misfortunes.  The  brave  man  knows 
how  to  respect  bravery  in  another.  He  assumed, 
however,  a  severe  aspect,  as  he  rebuked  the  chief  for 
having  so  long  persisted  in  hostilities.  Had  Xicoten- 
catl  believed  the  word  of  the  Spaniards,  and  accepted 
their  proffered  friendship*  sooner,  he  would  have  spared 
his  people  much  suffering,  which  they  well  merited  by 
their  obstinacy.  But  it  was  impossible,  continued  the 
general,  to  retrieve  the  past.  He  was  willing  to  bury 
it  in  oblivion,  and  to  receive  the  Tlascalans  as  vassals 
to  the  emperor,  his  master.  If  they  proved  true,  they 
should  find  him  a  sure  column  of  support ;  if  false,  he 
would  take  such  vengeance  on  them  as  he  had  intended 
to  take  on  their  capital  had  they  not  speedily  given  in 
their  submission.  It  proved  an  ominous  menace  for 
the  chief  to  whom  it  was  addressed. 

The  cacique  then  ordered  his  slaves  to  bring  forward 
some  trifling  ornaments  of  gold  and  feather- embroid 
ery,  designed  as  presents.  They  were  of  little  value, 
he  said,  with  a  smile,  for  the  Tlascalans  were  poor. 
They  had  little  gold,  not  even  cotton,  nor  salt.  The 
Aztec  emperor  had  left  them  nothing  but  their  freedom 
and  their  arms.  He  offered  this  gift  only  as  a  token 
of  his  good  will.  "As  such  I  receive  it,"  answered 
Cortes,  "and,  coming  from  the  Tlascalans,  set  more 


EMBASSY  FROM  MONTEZUMA. 


457 


value  on  it  than  I  should  from  any  other  source,  though 
it  were  a  house  full  of  gold;" — a  politic  as  well  as 
magnanimous  reply,  for  it  was  by  the  aid  of  this  good 
will  that  he  was  to  win  the  gold  of  Mexico.12 

Thus  ended  the  bloody  war  with  the  fierce  republic 
of  Tlascala,  during  the  course  of  which  the  fortunes 
of  the  Spaniards  more  than  once  had  trembled  in  the 
balance.  Had  it  been  persevered  in  but  a  little 
longer,  it  must  have  ended  in  their  confusion  and  ruin, 
exhausted  as  they  were  by  wounds,  watching,  and 
fatigues,  with  the  seeds  of  disaffection  rankling  among 
themselves.  As  it  was,  they  came  out  of  the  fearful 
contest  with  untarnished  glory.  To  the  enemy  they 
seemed  invulnerable,  bearing  charmed  lives,  proof 
alike  against  the  accidents  of  fortune  and  the  assaults 
of  man.  No  wonder  that  they  indulged  a  similar  con 
ceit  in  their  own  bosoms,  and  that  the  humblest  Span 
iard  should  have  fancied  himself  the  subject  of  a  special 
interposition  of  Providence,  which  shielded  him  in  the 
hour  of  battle  and  reserved  him  for  a  higher  destiny. 

While  the  Tlascalans  were  still  in  the  camp,  an  em 
bassy  was  announced  from  Montezuma.  Tidings  of 
the  exploits  of  the  Spaniards  had  spread  far  and  wide 
over  the  plateau.  The  emperor,  in  particular,  had 
watched  every  step  of  their  progress,  as  they  climbed 
the  steeps  of  the  Cordilleras  and  advanced  over  the 
broad  table-land  on  their  summit.  He  had  seen  them, 
with  great  satisfaction,  take  the  road  to  Tlascala, 

12  Rel.  Scg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  pp.  56,  57. — Oviedo,  Hist, 
de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  3. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  53. — Bernal 
Diaz,   Hist,   de  la  Conquista,  cap.  71,  et  seq.—Sahagun,   Hist,  de 
Nueva-Espana,  MS.,  lib.  12,  cap.  n. 
VOL.  I. — u  39 


458  MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

trusting  that,  if  they  were  mortal  men,  they  would 
find  their  graves  there.  Great  was  his  dismay  when 
courier  after  courier  brought  him  intelligence  of  their 
successes,  and  that  the  most  redoubtable  warriors  on 
the  plateau  had  been  scattered  like  chaff  by  the  swords 
of  this  handful  of  strangers. 

His  superstitious  fears  returned  in  full  force.  He 
saw  in  the  Spaniards  "  the  men  of  destiny,"  who  were 
to  take  possession  of  his  sceptre.  In  his  alarm  and 
uncertainty,  he  sent  a  new  embassy  to  the  Christian 
camp.  It  consisted  of  five  great  nobles  of  his  court, 
attended  by  a  train  of  two  hundred  slaves.  They 
brought  with  them  a  present,  as  usual,  dictated  partly 
by  fear  and  in  part  by  the  natural  munificence  of  his 
disposition.  It  consisted  of  three  thousand  ounces 
of  gold,  in  grains,  or  in  various  manufactured  articles, 
with  several  hundred  mantles  and  dresses  of  embroid 
ered  cotton  and  the  picturesque  feather-work.  As 
they  laid  these  at  the  feet  of  Cortes,  they  told  him 
they  had  come  to  offer  the  congratulations  of  their 
master  on  the  late  victories  of  the  white  men.  The 
emperor  only  regretted  that  it  would  not  be  in  his 
power  to  receive  them  in  his  capital,  where  the  numer 
ous  population  was  so  unruly  that  their  safety  would 
be  placed  in  jeopardy.  The  mere  intimation  of  the 
Aztec  emperor's  wishes,  in  the  most  distant  way,  would 
have  sufficed  with  the  Indian  nations.  It  had  very 
little  weight  with  the  Spaniards  ;  and  the  envoys,  finding 
this  puerile  expression  of  them  ineffectual,  resorted  to 
another  argument,  offering  a  tribute  in  their  master's 
name  to  the  Castilian  sovereign,  provided  the  Span 
iards  would  relinquish  their  visit  to  his  capital.  This 


EMBASSY  FROM  MONTEZUMA. 


459 


was  a  greater  error  :  it  was  displaying  the  rich  casket 
with  one  hand  which  he  was  unable  to  defend  with 
the  other.  Yet  the  author  of  this  pusillanimous  policy, 
the  unhappy  victim  of  superstition,  was  a  monarch  re 
nowned  among  the  Indian  nations  for  his  intrepidity 
and  enterprise, — the  terror  of  Anahuac  ! 

Cortes,  while  he  urged  his  own  sovereign's  com 
mands  as  a  reason  for  disregarding  the  wishes  of  Monte- 
zuma,  uttered  expressions  of  the  most  profound  respect 
for  the  Aztec  prince,  and  declared  that  if  he  had  not 
the  means  of  requiting  his  munificence,  as  he  could 
wish,  at  present,  he  trusted  to  repay  him,  at  some  future 
day,  with  good  works  ! I3 

The  Mexican  ambassadors  were  not  much  gratified 
with  finding  the  war  at  an  end,  and  a  reconciliation 
established  between  their  mortal  enemies  and  the  Span 
iards.  The  mutual" disgust  of  the  two  parties  with  each 
other  was  too  strong  to  be  repressed  even  in  the  pres 
ence  of  the  general,  who  saw  with  satisfaction  the  evi 
dences  of  a  jealousy  which,  undermining  the  strength 
of  the  Indian  emperor,  was  to  prove  the  surest  source 
of  his  own  success.14 

*3  "  Cortes  recibio  con  alegria  aquel  presente,  y  dixo  quc  se  lo  tenia 
en  merced,  y  que  el  lo  pagaria  al  senor  Monte9uma  en  buenas  obras." 
Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  73. 

'•*  He  dwells  on  it  in  his  letter  to  the  emperor.  "  Seeing  the  dis 
cord  and  division  between  them,  I  felt  not  a  little  pleasure,  for  it 
appeared  to  me  to  suit  well  with  my  design,  and  that  through  this 
means  I  might  the  more  easily  subjugate  them.  Moreover  I  remem 
bered  a  text  of  the  Evangelist,  which  says,  '  Every  kingdom  divided 
against  itself  is  brought  to  desolation.'  I  treated  therefore  with  both 
parties,  and  thanked  each  in  secret  for  the  intelligence  it  had  given 
me,  professing  to  regard  it  with  greater  friendship  than  the  other." 
Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  61. 


460  MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

Two  of  the  Aztec  envoys  returned  to  Mexico,  to 
acquaint  their  sovereign  with  the  state  of  affairs  in  the 
Spanish  camp.  The  others  remained  with  the  army, 
Cortes  being  willing  that  they  should  be  personal  spec 
tators  of  the  deference  shown  him  by  the  Tlascalans. 
Still  he  did  not  hasten  his  departure  for  their  capital. 
Not  that  he  placed  reliance  on  the  injurious  intimations 
of  the  Mexicans  respecting  their  good  faith.  Yet  he 
was  willing  to  put  this  to  some  longer  trial,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  re-establish  his  own  health  more 
thoroughly  before  his  visit.  Meanwhile,  messengers 
daily  arrived  from  the  city,  pressing  his  journey,  and 
were  finally  followed  by  some  of  the  aged  rulers  of  the 
republic,  attended  by  a  numerous  retinue,  impatient 
of  his  long  delay.  They  brought  with  them  a  body  of 
five  hundred  tamanes,  or  men  of  burden,  to  drag  his 
cannon  and  relieve  his  own  forces  from  this  fatiguing 
part  of  their  duty.  It  was  impossible  to  defer  his  de 
parture  longer ;  and  after  mass,  and  a  solemn  thanks 
giving  to  the  great  Being  who  had  crowned  their  arms 
with  triumph,  the  Spaniards  bade  adieu  to  the  quarters 
which  they  had  occupied  for  nearly  three  weeks  on  the 
hill  of  Tzompach.  The  strong  tower,  or  teocalli,  which 
commanded  it,  was  called,  in  commemoration  of  their 
residence,  "  the  tower  of  victory;"  and  the  few  stones 
which  still  survive  of  its  ruins  point  out  to  the  eye  of 
the  traveller  a  spot  ever  memorable  in  history  for  the 
courage  and  constancy  of  the  early  Conquerors.15 

xs  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  6,  cap.  10. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de 
las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  4. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  54. — Martyr. 
De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap.  2.— Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista, 
cap.  72-74.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83. 


CHAPTER    V. 

SPANIARDS  ENTER  TLASCALA.  -  DESCRIPTION  OF  THE 
CAPITAL.  -  ATTEMPTED  CONVERSION.  -  AZTEC  EM 
BASSY.  -  INVITED  TO  CHOLULA. 


THE  city  of  Tlascala,  the  capital  of  the  republic  of 
the  same  name,  lay  at  the  distance  of  about  six  leagues 
from  the  Spanish  camp.  The  road  led  into  a  hilly 
region,  exhibiting  in  every  arable  patch  of  ground  the 
evidence  of  laborious  cultivation.  Over  a  deep  bar 
ranca,  or  ravine,  they  crossed  on  a  bridge  of  stone, 
which,  according  to  tradition,  —  a  slippery  authority,  —  • 
is  the  same  still  standing,  and  was  constructed  origi 
nally  for  the  passage  of  the  army.1  They  passed  some 
considerable  towns  on  their  route,  where  they  ex 
perienced  a  full  measure  of  Indian  hospitality.  As 
they  advanced,  the  approach  to  a  populous  city  was 
intimated  by  the  crowds  who  flocked  out  to  see  and 

1  "  A  distancia  de  un  quarto  de  legua  caminando  a  esta  dicha  ciudad 
se  encuentra  una  barranca  honda,  que  tiene  para  pasar  un  Pucnte 
de  cal  y  canto  de  boveda,  y  cs  tradicion  en  el  pueblo  de  San  Salvador, 
que  se  hizo  en  aquellos  dias,  que  estubo  alii  Cortes  para  que  pasase." 
(Viaje,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  xi.)  If  the  antiquity  of  this  arched  stone 
bridge  could  be  established,  it  would  settle  a  point  much  mooted  in 
respect  to  Indian  architecture.  But  the  construction  of  so  solid  a 
work  in  so  short  a  time  is  a  fact  requiring  a  better  voucher  than  the 
villagers  of  San  Salvador. 

39*  (461) 


462  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

welcome  the  strangers ;  men  and  women  in  their 
picturesque  dresses,  with  bunches  and  wreaths  of 
roses,  which  they  gave  to  the  Spaniards,  or  fastened  to 
the  necks  and  caparisons  of  their  horses,  in  the  same 
manner  as  at  Cempoalla.  Priests,  with  their  white 
robes,  and  long  matted  tresses  floating  over  them, 
mingled  in  the  crowd,  scattering  volumes  of  incense 
from  their  burning  censers.  In  this  way,  the  multitu 
dinous  and  motley  procession  defiled  through  the  gates 
of  the  ancient  capital  of  Tlascala.  It  was  the  twenty- 
third  of  September,  1519,  the  anniversary  of  which  is 
still  celebrated  by  the  inhabitants  as  a  day  of  jubilee.2 

The  press  was  now  so  great  that  it  was  with  difficulty 
the  police  of  the  city  could  clear  a  passage  for  the 
army ;  while  the  azoteas,  or  flat  terraced  roofs  of  the 
buildings,  were  covered  with  spectators,  eager  to  catch 
a  glimpse  of  the  wonderful  strangers.  The  houses  were 
hung  with  festoons  of  flowers,  and  arches  of  verdant 
boughs,  intertwined  with  roses  and  honeysuckle,  were 
thrown  across  the  streets.  The  whole  population  aban 
doned  itself  to  rejoicing ;  and  the  air  was  rent  with 
songs  and  shouts  of  triumph,  mingled  with  the  wild 
music  of  the  national  instruments,  that  might  have  ex 
cited  apprehensions  in  the  breasts  of  the  soldiery  had 
they  not  gathered  their  peaceful  import  from  the  as 
surance  of  Marina  and  the  joyous  countenances  of  the 
natives. 

2  Clavigero,  Stor.  del.  Messico,  torn.  iii.  p.  53. — "  Recibimiento  el 
mas  solene  y  famoso  que  en  el  mundo  se  ha  visto,"  exclaims  the  en 
thusiastic  historian  of  the  republic.  He  adds  that  "  more  than  a 
hundred  thousand  men  flocked  out  to  receive  the  Spaniards  ;  a  thing 
that  appears  impossible,"  que  parece  cosa  imposible  I  It  does  indeed. 
Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. 


DESCRIPTION   OF    TLASCALA.  463 

With  these  accompaniments,  the  procession  moved 
along  the  principal  streets  to  the  mansion  of  Xico- 
tencatl,  the  aged  father  of  the  Tlascalan  general,  and 
one  of  the  four  rulers  of  the  republic.  Cortes  dis 
mounted  from  his  horse  to  receive  the  old  chieftain's 
embrace.  He  was  nearly  blind,  and  satisfied,  as  far 
as  he  could,  a  natural  curiosity  respecting  the  person 
of  the  Spanish  general,  by  passing  his  hand  over  his 
features.  He  then  led  the  way  to  a  spacious  hall  in 
his  palace,  where  a  banquet  was  served  to  the  army. 
In  the  evening  they  were  shown  to  their  quarters,  in 
the  buildings  and  open  ground  surrounding  one  of  the 
principal  teocallis ;  while  the  Mexican  ambassadors, 
at  the  desire  of  Cortes,  had  apartments  assigned  them 
next  to  his  own,  that  he  might  the  better  watch  over 
their  safety  in  this  city  of  their  enemies.3 

Tlascala  was  one  of  the  most  important  and  popu 
lous  towns  on  the  table-land.  Cortes,  in  his  letter  to 
the  emperor,  compares  it  to  Granada,  affirming  that 
it  was  larger,  stronger,  and  more  populous  than  the 
Moorish  capital  at  the  time  of  the  conquest,  and  quite 
as  well  built.4  But,  notwithstanding  we  are  assured 
by  a  most  respectable  writer  at  the  close  of  the  last 

3  Sahagun,  Hist,  de  Nueva-Espafia,  MS.,  lib.  12,  cap.  n. — Rel. 
Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  59. — Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala, 
MS. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  54. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib. 
6,  cap.  ii. 

4  "  Laqual  ciudad  es  tan  grande,  y  de  tanta  admiracion,  que  aunque 
mucho  de  lo,  que  de  ella  podria  decir,  dexe,  lo  poco  que  dire  creo  es 
casi  increible,  porque  es  muy  mayor  que  Granada,  y  muy  mas  fuerte, 
y  de  tan  buenos  Edificios,  y  de  muy  mucha  mas  gente,  que  Granada 
tenia  al  tiempo  que  se  gano."     Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana, 

D.  58. 


464  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

century  that  its  remains  justify  the  assertion,5  we  shall 
be  slow  to  believe  that  its  edifices  could  have  rivalled 
those  monuments  of  Oriental  magnificence,  whose 
light,  aerial  forms  still  survive  after  the  lapse  of  ages, 
the  admiration  of  every  traveller  of  sensibility  and 
taste.  The  truth  is,  that  Cortes,  like  Columbus,  saw 
objects  through  the  warm  medium  of  his  own  fond 
imagination,  giving  them  a  higher  tone  of  coloring 
and  larger  dimensions  than  were  strictly  warranted  by 
the  fact.  It  was  natural  that  the  man  who  had  made 
such  rare  discoveries  should  unconsciously  magnify 
their  merits  to  his  own  eyes  and  to  those  of  others. 

The  houses  were  built,  for  the  most  part,  of  mud  or 
earth ;  the  better  sort  of  stone  and  lime,  or  bricks 
dried  in  the  sun.  They  were  unprovided  with  doors 
or  windows,  but  in  the  apertures  for  the  former  hung 
mats  fringed  with  pieces  of  copper  or  something  which, 
by  its  tinkling  sound,  would  give  notice  of  any  one's 
entrance.  The  streets  were  narrow  and  dark.  The 
population  must  have  been  considerable,  if,  as  Cortes 
asserts,  thirty  thousand  souls  were  often  gathered  in  the 
market  on  a  public  day.  These  meetings  were  a  sort 
of  fairs,  held,  as  usual,  in  all  the  great  towns,  every  fifth 
day,  and  attended  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  adjacent 
country,  who  brought  there  for  sale  every  description 
of  domestic  produce  and  manufacture  with  which  they 
were  acquainted.  They  peculiarly  excelled  in  pottery, 
which  was  considered  as  equal  to  the  best  in  Europe.6 

5  "  En  las  Ruinas,  que  aim  hoy  se  ven  en  Tlaxcala,  sc  conoce,  que 
no  es  pondcracion."     Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  p.  58.     Nota  del  editor, 
Lorenzana. 

6  "  Nullum  est  fictile  vas  apud  nos,  quod  arte  superet  ab  illis  vasa 
formata."     Martyr,  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap.  2. 


DESCRIPTION   OF    TLASCALA.  465 

It  is  a  further  proof  of  civilized  habits  that  the  Span 
iards  found  barbers'  shops,  and  baths  both  of  vapor 
and  hot  water,  familiarly  used  by  the  inhabitants.  A 
still  higher  proof  of  refinement  may  be  discerned  in  a 
vigilant  police  which  repressed  everything  like  disorder 
among  the  people.7 

The  city  was  divided  into  four  quarters,  which  might 
rather  be  called  so  many  separate  towns,  since  they 
were  built  at  different  times,  and  separated  from  each 
other  by  high  stone  walls,  defining  their  respective 
limits.  Over  each  of  these  districts  ruled  one  of  the 
four  great  chiefs  of  the  republic,  occupying  his  own 
spacious  mansion  and  surrounded  by  his  own  imme 
diate  vassals.  Strange  arrangement, — and  more  strange 
that  it  should  have  been  compatible  with  social  order 
and  tranquillity  !  The  ancient  capital,  through  one 
quarter  of  which  flowed  the  rapid  current  of  the  Za- 
huatl,  stretched  along  the  summits  and  sides  of  hills, 
at  whose  base  are  now  gathered  the  miserable  remains 
of  its  once  flourishing  population.8  Far  beyond,  to 
the  southeast,  extended  the  bold  sierra  of  Tlascala, 
and  the  huge  Malinche,  crowned  with  the  usual  silver 
diadem  of  the  highest  Andes,  having  its  shaggy  sides 

7  Camargo,  Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Loren- 
zana.p.  59. — Oviedo,  Hist,  de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  4. — Ixtlilxo- 
chitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  83. — The  last  historian  enumerates  such 
a  number  of  contemporary  Indian  authorities  for  his  narrative  as  of 
itself  argues  no  inconsiderable  degree  of  civilization  in  the  people. 

8  Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  6,  cap.  12. — The  population  of 
a  place  which  Cortes  could  compare  with  Granada  had  dwindled  by 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century  to  3400  inhabitants,  of  whom 
less  than  a  thousand  were  of  the  Indian  stock.    See  Humboldt,  Essai 
politique,  torn.  ii.  p.  158. 

u* 


466  MARCH   TO    MEXICO. 

clothed  with  dark-green  forests  of  firs,  gigantic  syca 
mores,  and  oaks  whose  towering  stems  rose  to  the 
height  of  forty  or  fifty  feet,  unencumbered  by  a  branch. 
The  clouds,  which  sailed  over  from  the  distant  Atlantic, 
gathered  round  the  lofty  peaks  of  the  sierra,  and,  set 
tling  into  torrents,  poured  over  the  plains  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  the  city,  converting  them,  at  such  seasons, 
into  swamps.  Thunder-storms,  more  frequent  and 
terrible  here  than  in  other  parts  of  the  table-land, 
swept  down  the  sides  of  the  mountains  and  shook  the 
frail  tenements  of  the  capital  to  their  foundations. 
But,  although  the  bleak  winds  of  the  sierra  gave  an 
austerity  to  the  climate,  unlike  the  sunny  skies  and 
genial  temperature  of  the  lower  regions,  it  was  far 
more  favorable  to  the  development  of  both  the  phys 
ical  and  moral  energies.  A  bold  and  hardy  peasantry 
was  nurtured  among  the  recesses  of  the  hills,  fit  equally 
to  cultivate  the  land  in  peace  and  to  defend  it  in  war. 
Unlike  the  spoiled  child  of  Nature,  who  derives  such 
facilities  of  subsistence  from  her  too  prodigal  hand  as 
supersede  the  necessity  of  exertion  on  his  own  part, 
the  Tlascalan  earned  his  bread — from  a  soil  not  un 
grateful,  it  is  true — by  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  He 
led  a  life  of  temperance  and  toil.  Cut  oft"  by  his 
long  wars  with  the  Aztecs  from  commercial  inter 
course,  he  was  driven  chiefly  to  agricultural  labor, 
the  occupation  most  propitious  to  purity  of  morals  and 
sinewy  strength  of  constitution.  His  honest  breast 
glowed  with  the  patriotism,  or  local  attachment  to  the 
soil,  which  is  the  fruit  of  its  diligent  culture;  while 
he  was  elevated  by  a  proud  consciousness  of  inde 
pendence,  the  natural  birthright  of  the  child  of  the 


SEVERE    DISCIPLINE.  467 

mountains.  Such  was  the  race  with  whom  Cortes  was 
now  associated  for  the  achievement  of  his  great  work. 

Some  days  were  given  by  the  Spaniards  to  festivity, 
in  which  they  were  successively  entertained  at  the  hos 
pitable  boards  of  the  four  great  nobles,  in  their  several 
quarters  of  the  city.  Amidst  these  friendly  demon 
strations,  however,  the  general  never  relaxed  for  a 
moment  his  habitual  vigilance,  or  the  strict  discipline 
of  the  camp ;  and  he  was  careful  to  provide  for  the 
security  of  the  citizens  by  prohibiting,  under  severe 
penalties,  any  soldier  from  leaving  his  quarters  without 
express  permission.  Indeed,  the  severity  of  his  disci 
pline  provoked  the  remonstrance  of  more  than  one  of 
his  officers,  as  a  superfluous  caution ;  and  the  Tlascalan 
chiefs  took  some  exception  at  it,  as  inferring  an  un 
reasonable  distrust  ,of  them.  But,  when  Cortes  ex 
plained  it,  as  in  obedience  to  an  established  military 
system,  they  testified  their  admiration,  and  the  ambi 
tious  young  general  of  the  republic  proposed  to  intro 
duce  it,  if  possible,  into  his  own  ranks.9 

The  Spanish  commander,  having  assured  himself 
of  the  loyalty  of  his  new  allies,  next  proposed  to  ac 
complish  one  of  the  great  objects  of  his  mission,  their 
conversion  to  Christianity.  By  the  advice  of  Father 
Olmedo,  always  opposed  to  precipitate  measures,  he 
had  deferred  this  till  a  suitable  opportunity  presented 
itself  for  opening  the  subject.  Such  a  one  occurred 
when  the  chiefs  of  the  state  proposed  to  strengthen  the 

9Sahagun,  Hist,  do  Nueva-Espana,  MS.,  lib.  12,  cap.  n. — Camargo, 
Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. — Gomara,Cr6nica,  cap.  54,  55. — Ilcrrera,  Hist, 
general,  dec.  2,  lib.  6,  cap.  13. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  dc  la  Conquista, 
cap.  75. 


468  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

alliance  with  the  Spaniards  by  the  intermarriage  of 
their  daughters  with  Cortes  and  his  officers.  He  told 
them  this  could  not  be  while  they  continued  in  the 
darkness  of  infidelity.  Then,  with  the  aid  of  the  good 
friar,  he  expounded  as  well  as  he  could  the  doctrines 
of  the  Faith,  and,  exhibiting  the  image  of  the  Virgin 
with  the  infant  Redeemer,  told  them  that  there  was  the 
God  in  whose  worship  alone  they  would  find  salvation, 
while  that  of  their  own  false  idols  would  sink  them  in 
eternal  perdition. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  burden  the  reader  with  a  reca 
pitulation  of  his  homily,  which  contained,  probably, 
dogmas  quite  as  incomprehensible  to  the  untutored 
Indian  as  any  to  be  found  in  his  own  rude  mythology. 
But,  though  it  failed  to  convince  his  audience,  they 
listened  with  a  deferential  awe.  When  he  had  finished, 
they  replied  they  had  no  doubt  that  the  God  of  the 
Christians  must  be  a  good  and  a  great  God,  and  as  such 
they  were  willing  to  give  him  a  place  among  the 
divinities  of  Tlascala.  The  polytheistic  system  of  the 
Indians,  like  that  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  was  of  that 
accommodating  kind  which  could  admit  within  its 
elastic  folds  the  deities  of  any  other  religion,  without 
violence  to  itself.10  But  every  nation,  they  continued, 
must  have  its  own  appropriate  and  tutelary  deities. 
Nor  could  they,  in  their  old  age,  abjure  the  service  of 

10  Camargo  notices  this  elastic  property  in  the  religions  of  Anahuac  : 
"  Este  modo  de  hablar  y  decir  que  les  querra  dar  otro  Dies  es  saber 
que  cuando  estas  gentes  tenian  noticia  de  algun  Dios  de  buenas  pro- 
piedades  y  costumbres,  que  le  rescibiesen  admitiendole  por  tal,  porque 
otras  gentes  advenedizas  trujeron  muchos  idolos  que  tubieron  por 
Dioses,  y  £  este  fin  y  proposito  decian,  que  Cortes  les  traia  otro  Dios." 
Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS. 


ATTEMPTED   CONVERSION.  469 

those  who  had  watched  over  them  from  youth.  It 
would  bring  down  the  vengeance  of  their  gods,  and  of 
their  own  nation,  who  were  as  warmly  attached  to  their 
religion  as  their  liberties,  and  would  defend  both  with 
the  last  drop  of  their  blood  ! 

It  was  clearly  inexpedient  to  press  the  matter  further 
at  present.  But  the  zeal  of  Cortes,  as  usual,  waxing 
warm  by  opposition,  had  now  mounted  too  high  for 
him  to  calculate  obstacles ;  nor  would  he  have  shrunk, 
probably,  from  the  crown  of  martyrdom  in  so  good  a 
cause.  But,  fortunately,  at  least  for  the  success  of  his 
temporal  cause,  this  crown  was  not  reserved  for  him. 

The  good  monk,  his  ghostly  adviser,  seeing  the 
course  things  were  likely  to  take,  with  better  judgment 
interposed  to  prevent  it.  He  had  no  desire,  he  said,  to 
see  the  same  scenes  acted  over  again  as  at  Cempoalla. 
He  had  no  relish  for  forced  conversions.  They  could 
hardly  be  lasting.  The  growth  of  an  hour  might  well 
die  with  the  hour.  Of  what  use  was  it  to  overturn  the 
altar,  if  the  idol  remained  enthroned  in  the  heart  ?  or 
to  destroy  the  idol  itself,  if  it  were  only  to  make  room 
for  another  ?  Better  to  wait  patiently  the  effect  of  time 
and  teaching  to  soften  the  heart  and  open  the  under 
standing,  without  which  there  could  be  no  assurance 
of  a  sound  and  permanent  conviction.  These  rational 
views  were  enforced  by  the  remonstrances  of  Alvarado, 
Velasquez  de  Leon,  and  those  in  whom  Cortes  placed 
most  confidence ;  till,  driven  from  his  original  purpose, 
the  military  polemic  consented  to  relinquish  the  attempt 
at  conversion  for  the  present,  and  to  refrain  from  a 
repetition  of  scenes  which,  considering  the  different 
mettle  of  the  population,  might  have  been  attended 
VOL.  I.  40 


47o  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

with  very  different  results  from  those  at  Cozumel  and 
Cempoalla.11 

In  the  course  of  our  narrative  we  have  had  occasion 
to  witness  more  than  once  the  good  effects  of  the  in 
terposition  of  Father  Olmedo.  Indeed,  it  is  scarcely 
too  much  to  say  that  his  discretion  in  spiritual  matters 
contributed  as  essentially  to  the  success  of  the  expe 
dition  as  did  the  sagacity  and  courage  of  Cortes  in 
temporal.  He  was  a  true  disciple  in  the  school  of  Las 
Casas.  His  heart  was  unscathed  by  that  fiery  fanati 
cism  which  sears  and  hardens  whatever  it  touches.  It 
melted  with  the  warm  glow  of  Christian  charity.  He 
had  come  out  to  the  New  World  as  a  missionary  among 
the  heathen,  and  he  shrunk  from  no  sacrifice  but  that 
of  the  welfare  of  the  poor  benighted  flock  to  whom  he 
had  consecrated  his  days.  If  he  followed  the  banners 
of  the  warrior,  it  was  to  mitigate  the  ferocity  of  war, 
and  to  turn  the  triumphs  of  the  Cross  to  a  good  account 
for  the  natives  themselves,  by  the  spiritual  labors  of 
conversion.  He  afforded  the  uncommon  example — 
not  to  have  been  looked  for,  certainly,  in  a  Spanish 
monk  of  the  sixteenth  century — of  enthusiasm  con 
trolled  by  reason,  a  quickening  zeal  tempered  by  the 
mild  spirit  of  toleration. 

11  Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich.,  MS.,  cap.  84. — Gomara,  Cronica,  cap. 
56. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  76,  77. — This  is  not.  the 
account  of  Camargo.  According  to  him,  Cortes  gained  his  point : 
the  nobles  led  the  way  by  embracing  Christianity,  and  the  idols  were 
broken.  (Hist,  de  Tlascala,  MS.)  But  Camargo  was  himself  a 
Christianized  Indian,  who  lived  in  the  next  generation  after  the  Con 
quest,  and  may  very  likely  have  felt  as  much  desire  to  relieve  his 
nation  from  the  reproach  of  infidelity  as  a  modern  Spaniard  would  to 
scour  out  the  stain — mala  raza  y  mancha — of  Jewish  or  Moorish 
lineage  from  his  escutcheon. 


ATTEMPTED   CONVERSION.  471 

But,  though  Cortes  abandoned  the  ground  of  con 
version  for  the  present,  he  compelled  the  Tlascalans  to 
break  the  fetters  of  the  unfortunate  victims  reserved  for 
sacrifice ;  an  act  of  humanity  unhappily  only  transient 
in  its  effects,  since  the  prisons  were  filled  with  fresh 
victims  on  his  departure. 

He  also  obtained  permission  for  the  Spaniards  to 
perform  the  services  of  their  own  religion  unmolested. 
A  large  cross  was  erected  in  one  of  the  great  courts  or 
squares.  Mass  was  celebrated  every  day  in  the  pres 
ence  of  the  army  and  of  crowds  of  natives,  who,  if  they 
did  not  comprehend  its  full  import,  were  so  far  edified 
that  they  learned  to  reverence  the  religion  of  their 
conquerors.  The  direct  interposition  of  Heaven,  how 
ever,  wrought  more  for  their  conversion  than  the  best 
homily  of  priest  or  soldier.  Scarcely  had  the  Span 
iards  left  the  city — the  tale  is  told  on  very  respectable 
authority — when  a  thin,  transparent  cloud  descended 
and  settled  like  a  column  on  the  cross,  and,  wrapping 
it  round  in  its  luminous  folds,  continued  to  emit  a 
soft,  celestial  radiance  through  the  night,  thus  pro 
claiming  the  sacred  character  of  the  symbol,  on  which 
was  shed  the  halo  of  divinity  !  I2 

The  principle  of  toleration  in  religious  matters  being 
established,  the  Spanish  general  consented  to  receive 
the  daughters  of  the  caciques.  Five  or  six  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  the  Indian  maidens  were  assigned  to  as 
many  of  his  principal  officers,  after  they  had  been 
cleansed  from  the  stains  of  infidelity  by  the  waters  of 
baptism.  They  received,  as  usual,  on  this  occasion, 

12  The  miracle  is  reported  by  Herrera  (Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  6, 
cap.  15),  and  believed  by  Solis.     Conquista  de  Mejico,  lib.  3,  cap.  5. 


47 2  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

good  Castilian  names,  in  exchange  for  the  barbarous 
nomenclature  of  their  own  vernacular.13  Among  them, 
Xicotencatl's  daughter,  Dona  Luisa,  as  she  was  called 
after  her  baptism,  was  a  princess  of  the  highest  estima 
tion  and  authority  in  Tlascala.  She  was  given  by  her 
father  to  Alvarado,  and  their  posterity  intermarried 
with  the  noblest  families  of  Castile.  The  frank  and 
joyous  manners  of  this  cavalier  made  him  a  great 
favorite  with  the  Tlascalans ;  and  his  bright,  open 
countenance,  fair  complexion,  and  golden  locks  gave 
him  the  name  of  Tonatiiih,  the  "Sun."  The  Indians 
often  pleased  their  fancies  by  fastening  a  sobriquet,  or 
some  characteristic  epithet,  on  the  Spaniards.  As 
Cortes  was  always  attended,  on  public  occasions,  by 
Dona  Marina,  or  Malinche,  as  she  was  called  by  the 
natives,  they  distinguished  him  by  the  same  name.  By 
these  epithets,  originally  bestowed  in  Tlascala,  the  two 
Spanish  captains  were  popularly  designated  among  the 
Indian  nations.14 

While  these  events  were  passing,  another  embassy 
arrived  from  the  court  of  Mexico.  It  was  charged,  as 
usual,  with  a  costly  donative  of  embossed  gold  plate, 

X3  To  avoid  the  perplexity  of  selection,  it  was  common  for  the  mis 
sionary  to  give  the  same  names  to  all  the  Indians  baptized  on  the 
same  day.  Thus,  one  day  was  set  apart  for  the  Johns,  another  for  the 
Peters,  and  so  on ;  an  ingenious  arrangement,  much  more  for  the 
convenience  of  the  clergy  than  of  the  converts.  See  Camargo,  Hist, 
de  Tlascala,  MS. 

J4  Ibid.,  MS. — Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  74,  77. — 
According  to  Camargo,  the  Tlascalans  gave  the  Spanish  commander 
three  hundred  damsels  to  wait  on  Marina;  and  the  kind  treatment 
and  instruction  they  received  led  some  of  the  chiefs  to  surrender  their 
own  daughters,  "  con  proposito  de  que  si  acaso  algunas  se  emprefiasen 
quedase  entre  ellos  gcneracion  de  hombres  tan  valientes  v  temidos." 


AZTEC   EMBASSY. 


473 


and  rich  embroidered  stuffs  of  cotton  and  feather-work. 
The  terms  of  the  message  might  well  argue  a  vacillating 
and  timid  temper  in  the  monarch,  did  they  not  mask  a 
deeper  policy.  He  now  invited  the  Spaniards  to  his 
capital,  with  the  assurance  of  a  cordial  welcome.  He 
besought  them  to  enter  into  no  alliance  with  the  base 
and  barbarous  Tlascalans ;  and  he  invited  them  to  take 
the  route  of  the  friendly  city  of  Cholula,  where  arrange 
ments,  according  to  his  orders,  were  made  for  their 
reception.15 

The  Tlascalans  viewed  with  deep  regret  the  general's 
proposed  visit  to  Mexico.  Their  reports  fully  con 
firmed  all  he  had  before  heard  of  the  power  and  am 
bition  of  Montezuma.  His  armies,  they  said,  were 
spread  over  every  part  of  the  continent.  His  capital 
was  a  place  of  great  strength,  and  as,  from  its  insular 
position,  all  communication  could  be  easily  cut  off 
with  the  adjacent  country,  the  Spaniards,  once  en 
trapped  there,  would  be  at  his  mercy.  His  policy, 
they  represented,  was  as  insidious  as  his  ambition  was 
boundless.  "Trust  not  his  fair  words,"  they  said, 
"his  courtesies,  and  his  gifts.  His  professions  are 
hollow,  and  his  friendships  false."  When  Cortes 

'5  Bernal  Diaz,  Hist,  de  la  Conquista,  cap.  80.— Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes, 
ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  60.— Martyr,  De  Orbc  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap.  2.— 
Cortes  notices  only  one  Aztec  mission,  while  Diaz  speaks  of  three. 
The  former,  from  brevity,  falls  so  much  short  of  the  whole  truth,  and  the 
latter,  from  forgetfulness  perhaps,  goes  so  much  beyond  it.  that  it  is  not 
always  easy  to  decide  between  them.  Diaz  did  not  compile  his  narra 
tive  till  some  fifty  years  after  the  Conquest ;  a  lapse  of  time  which 
may  excuse  many  errors,  but  must  considerably  impair  our  confidence 
in  the  minute  accuracy  of  his  details.  A  more  intimate  acquaintance 
with  his  chronicle  does  not  strengthen  this  confidence. 


474 


MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 


remarked  that  he  hoped  to  bring  about  a  better  under 
standing  between  the  emperor  and  them,  they  replied 
it  would  be  impossible ;  however  smooth  his  words,  he 
would  hate  them  at  heart. 

They  warmly  protested,  also,  against  the  general's 
taking  the  route  of  Cholula.  The  inhabitants,  not 
brave  in  the  open  field,  were  more  dangerous  from  their 
perfidy  and  craft.  They  were  Montezuma's  tools,  and 
would  do  his  bidding.  The  Tlascalans  seemed  to 
combine  with  this  distrust  a  superstitious  dread  of 
the  ancient  city,  the  headquarters  of  the  religion  of 
Anahuac.  It  was  here  that  the  god  Quetzalcoatl  held 
the  pristine  seat  of  his  empire.  His  temple  was  cele 
brated  throughout  the  land,  and  the  priests  were  con 
fidently  believed  to  have  the  power,  as  they  themselves 
boasted,  of  opening  an  inundation  from  the  founda 
tions  of  his  shrine,  which  should  bury  their  enemies 
in  the  deluge.  The  Tlascalans  further  reminded 
Cortes  that,  while  so  many  other  and  distant  places 
had  sent  to  him  at  Tlascala  to  testify  their  good  will 
and  offer  their  allegiance  to  his  sovereigns,  Cholula, 
only  six  leagues  distant,  had  done  neither.  The  last 
suggestion  struck  the  general  more  forcibly  than  any 
of  the  preceding.  He  instantly  despatched  a  summons 
to  the  city,  requiring  a  formal  tender  of  its  submission. 

Among  the  embassies  from  different  quarters  which 
had  waited  on  the  Spanish  commander,  while  at  Tlas 
cala,  was  one  from  Ixtlilxochitl,  son  of  the  great  Neza- 
hualpilli,  and  an  unsuccessful  competitor  with  his  elder 
brother — as  noticed  in  a  former  part  of  our  narrative — 
for  the  crown  of  Tezcuco.16  Though  defeated  in  his 

16  Ante,  p.  306. 


INVITED    TO   CHOLULA. 


475 


pretensions,  he  had  obtained  a  part  of  the  kingdom, 
over  which  he  ruled  with  a  deadly  feeling  of  animosity 
towards  his  rival,  and  to  Montezuma,  who  had  sus 
tained  him.  He  now  offered  his  services  to  Cortes, 
asking  his  aid,  in  return,  to  place  him  on  the  throne 
of  his  ancestors.  The  politic  general  returned  such  an 
answer  to  the  aspiring  young  prince  as  might  encourage 
his  expectations  and  attach  him  to  his  interests.  It 
was  his  aim  to  strengthen  his  cause  by  attracting  to 
himself  every  particle  of  disaffection  that  was  floating 
through  the  land. 

It  was  not  long  before  deputies  arrived  from  Cho- 
lula,  profuse  in  their  expressions  of  good  will,  and 
inviting  the  presence  of  the  Spaniards  in  their  capital. 
The  messengers  were  of  low  degree,  far  beneath  the 
usual  rank  of  ambassadors.  This  was  pointed  out  by 
the  Tlascalans ;  and  Cortes  regarded  it  as  a  fresh  in 
dignity.  He  sent  in  consequence  a  new  summons, 
declaring  if  they  did  not  instantly  send  him  a  deputa 
tion  of  their  principal  men  he  would  deal  with  them  as 
rebels  to  his  own  sovereign,  the  rightful  lord  of  these 
realms  ! I;  The  menace  had  the  desired  effect.  The 
Cholulans  were  not  inclined  to  contest,  at  least  for  the 
present,  his  magnificent  pretensions.  Another  embassy 

J7  "Si  no  viniessen,  iria  sobre  eilus,  y  tos  dcstruiria,  y  proccderia 
contra  ellos  como  contra  personas  rebeldes  ;  diciendoles,  como  todas 
estas  Partes,  y  otras  muy  mayores  Tierras,  y  Senorios  eran  de  Vuestra 
Alteza."  (Rel.  Seg.  dc  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  p.  63.)  "  Rebellion" 
was  a  very  convenient  term,  fastened  in  like  manner  by  the  country 
men  of  Cortes  on  the  Moors  for  defending  the  possessions  which  they 
had  held  for  eight  centuries  in  the  Peninsula.  It  justified  very  rigor 
ous  reprisals.  (See  the  History  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  Part  I., 
chap.  13,  et  alibi.) 


476  MARCH    TO    MEXICO. 

appeared  in  the  camp,  consisting  of  some  of  the  highest 
nobles ;  who  repeated  the  invitation  for  the  Spaniards 
to  visit  their  city,  and  excused  their  own  tardy  appear 
ance  by  apprehensions  for  their  personal  safety  in 
the  capital  of  their  enemies.  The  explanation  was 
plausible,  and  was  admitted  by  Cortes. 

The  Tlascalans  were  now  more  than  ever  opposed  to 
his  projected  visit.  A  strong  Aztec  force,  they  had 
ascertained,  lay  in  the  neighborhood  of  Cholula,  and 
the  people  were  actively  placing  their  city  in  a  posture 
of  defence.  They  suspected  some  insidious  scheme 
concerted  by  Montezuma  to  destroy  the  Spaniards. 

These  suggestions  disturbed  the  mind  of  Cortes,  but 
did  not  turn  him  from  his  purpose.  He  felt  a  natural 
curiosity  to  see  the  venerable  city  so  celebrated  in  the 
history  of  the  Indian  nations.  He  had,  besides,  gone 
too  far  to  recede, — too  far,  at  least,  to  do  so  without  a 
show  of  apprehension  implying  a  distrust  in  his  own 
resources  which  could  not  fail  to  have  a  bad  effect  on 
his  enemies,  his  allies,  and  his  own  men.  After  a 
brief  consultation  with  his  officers,  he  decided  on  the 
route  to  Cholula.18 

It  was  now  three  weeks  since  the  Spaniards  had  taken 
up  their  residence  within  the  hospitable  walls  of  Tlas- 
cala,  and  nearly  six  since  they  entered  her  territory. 
They  had  been  met  on  the  threshold  as  enemies, 
with  the  most  determined  hostility.  They  were  now 

18  Rel.  Seg.  de  Cortes,  ap.  Lorenzana,  pp.  62,  63. — Oviedo,  Hist, 
de  las  Ind.,  MS.,  lib.  33,  cap.  4.— Ixtlilxochitl,  Hist.  Chich..  MS.,  cap. 
84.— Gomara,  Cronica,  cap.  58. — Martyr,  De  Orbe  Novo,  dec.  5,  cap. 
2. — Herrera,  Hist,  general,  dec.  2,  lib.  6,  cap.  18. — Sahagun,  Hist,  de 
Nueva-Espana,  MS.,lib.  12,  cap.  n 


INVITED    TO   CHOLULA.  477 

to  part  with  the  same  people  as  friends  and  allies; 
fast  friends,  who  were  to  stand  by  them,  side  by  side, 
through  the  whole  of  their  arduous  struggle.  The 
result  of  their  visit,  therefore,  was  of  the  last  impor 
tance  ;  since  on  the  co-operation  of  these  brave  and 
warlike  republicans  greatly  depended  the  ultimate 
success  of  the  expedition. 


END   OF   THE   FIRST   VOLUME, 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRAR 


YB  29913 


